Swain County Hospital Could Win Free MRI Machine With Your Help
Your vote in an online contest could help WestCare Health System win an MRI (magnetic resonant imaging) machine for Swain County Hospital in Bryson City.
An MRI is an expensive medical technology device that scans a patient's body and provides interior views of living tissues, enabling physicians to diagnose and monitor disease.
Nearly 100 other hospitals are competing against WestCare for the new MRI machine, manufactured by Seimens Medical Corporation. Only hospitals of less than 180 beds that have no fixed-installation MRI machine are eligible.
Each hospital has created its own video (no music, film or video professional services were allowed). The video receiving the most votes via a Web page wins. To view the videos and vote for WestCare's video, point your web browser to www.WinAnMRI.com (click here).
The last day to vote is December 31, but you can vote more than once. The contest's rules allow each person to vote once per day.
The Web page includes these details: "One hospital in America will win a free MAGNETOM Essenza, an all-new 1.5T MRI. This powerful diagnostic tool can help improve the quality of care for friends, families, and neighbors in your community. View the videos and vote for the hospital who has the most compelling argument for why they should win." The page includes a link to a page in the Products and Solutions department of Siemen's Web site with a photo of the product. No price is given, although it is described as being the "most affordable all-new 1.5T MRI." A trade magazine (click) describes the unit as being priced "as much as $500,000 below similar 1.5 Tesla systems, making it the least expensive of the new 1.5T brands."
WestCare has one fixed-installation MRI and one mobile MRI in use at Harris Regional Hospital in Jackson County. A mobile MRI is taken to WestCare's Swain County Hospital every other week. If Swain County Hospital can obtain its own MRI, Swain County emergency patients would not need to come to Jackson County for MRI work, and Swain's regular patients would not need to wait for the mobile unit's scheduled visits.
"Having an on-site MRI machine at Swain County Hospital would eliminate the waiting period that patients in our area often face when their doctor orders an MRI. We serve a very large region of Western North Carolina and an on-site MRI machine would provide our physicians with the information they need in order to diagnose patients faster and begin treatment sooner, which leads to better care," said Ronnie Sloan, administrator of Swain County Hospital.
More information is available from WestCare at 586-7404.
As of December 5, the contest's Web page reported that Westcare's video had 295 votes. The leading contestant was Sumter Regional Hospital of Americus, Georgia, with 167,965 votes.
Although the MRI to be given to the winner is manufactured by Siemens, the contest is administered by Elite Marketing Communications of Orlando, Florida. The contest's web page includes a link to tips for contestants, which recommends using the popular YouTube video site and contacting local community groups and organizations.
Shown below: U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler casts his vote online for WestCare's video on Friday, Nov. 30, when he visited Harris Regional Hospital to participate in WestCare's celebration of National Home Health and Hospice Month.
An MRI is an expensive medical technology device that scans a patient's body and provides interior views of living tissues, enabling physicians to diagnose and monitor disease.
Nearly 100 other hospitals are competing against WestCare for the new MRI machine, manufactured by Seimens Medical Corporation. Only hospitals of less than 180 beds that have no fixed-installation MRI machine are eligible.
Each hospital has created its own video (no music, film or video professional services were allowed). The video receiving the most votes via a Web page wins. To view the videos and vote for WestCare's video, point your web browser to www.WinAnMRI.com (click here).
The last day to vote is December 31, but you can vote more than once. The contest's rules allow each person to vote once per day.
The Web page includes these details: "One hospital in America will win a free MAGNETOM Essenza, an all-new 1.5T MRI. This powerful diagnostic tool can help improve the quality of care for friends, families, and neighbors in your community. View the videos and vote for the hospital who has the most compelling argument for why they should win." The page includes a link to a page in the Products and Solutions department of Siemen's Web site with a photo of the product. No price is given, although it is described as being the "most affordable all-new 1.5T MRI." A trade magazine (click) describes the unit as being priced "as much as $500,000 below similar 1.5 Tesla systems, making it the least expensive of the new 1.5T brands."
WestCare has one fixed-installation MRI and one mobile MRI in use at Harris Regional Hospital in Jackson County. A mobile MRI is taken to WestCare's Swain County Hospital every other week. If Swain County Hospital can obtain its own MRI, Swain County emergency patients would not need to come to Jackson County for MRI work, and Swain's regular patients would not need to wait for the mobile unit's scheduled visits.
"Having an on-site MRI machine at Swain County Hospital would eliminate the waiting period that patients in our area often face when their doctor orders an MRI. We serve a very large region of Western North Carolina and an on-site MRI machine would provide our physicians with the information they need in order to diagnose patients faster and begin treatment sooner, which leads to better care," said Ronnie Sloan, administrator of Swain County Hospital.
More information is available from WestCare at 586-7404.
As of December 5, the contest's Web page reported that Westcare's video had 295 votes. The leading contestant was Sumter Regional Hospital of Americus, Georgia, with 167,965 votes.
Although the MRI to be given to the winner is manufactured by Siemens, the contest is administered by Elite Marketing Communications of Orlando, Florida. The contest's web page includes a link to tips for contestants, which recommends using the popular YouTube video site and contacting local community groups and organizations.
Shown below: U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler casts his vote online for WestCare's video on Friday, Nov. 30, when he visited Harris Regional Hospital to participate in WestCare's celebration of National Home Health and Hospice Month.
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