Hospitals find creative way to provide MRI services

With cloud-dreams ever in my view;

From "Solitude and the Lily"

Richard Henry Horne (1802--84)

Many of us enjoy the isolation of the Plains or we wouldn't live here, but that solitude is another issue if you're trying to get through miles of snowdrifts and icy roads to go to work or school.

Or, heaven forbid, you have a medical emergency.

Thankfully, dedicated state and municipal employees are well-equipped and dedicated to keeping the roads open, and emergency crews do their best to provide needed help regardless of the weather.

And once the patient arrives at the nearest hospital, it will likely have the latest in equipment operated by a well-trained staff.

With modern electronic communications like cell phones, satellite television and the Internet, rural Nebraska doesn't seem all that isolated, any more.

But those miles are still out there, and not everything can be done over the Web.

And not every hospital has its own magnetic resonance imaging device, although many are served by a mobile MRI unit.

Now, thanks to the Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. company and the Nebraska Hospital Association, a group of small, isolated Nebraska hospitals are using the Internet to try to win their own MRI unit.

Antelope Memorial Hospital in Neligh, Brown County Hospital in Ainsworth, Crete Area Medical Center in Crete, Providence Medical Center in Wayne and Tri-County Hospital in Lexington have each submitted a video describing how owning and operating an MRI will benefit the health and well-being of their patients in their acute-care hospitals.

Nearly 50 videos have been submitted from across the Midwest. Some of them are light-hearted, and others take the emotional angle. Regardless of their creative vision, all of them convey the need for an MRI technology to help patient care.

Go on line at http://www.winanmri.com before Dec. 31 and vote for your favorite; we're partial to especially isolated facilities like Ainsworth, but voters can make their own decision.

Solitude, yes, but even isolated residents deserve the best possible medical care. The video contest is a fun, creative way for one lucky hospital to provide it.