Campaign to Bring CT Scanner to QEH Emergency Department
NOVEMBER 30, 2023
CHARLOTTETOWN – Transporting a patient from the QEH emergency department to the CT scanner involves three hallways, many corners and several doorways. This long but necessary journey for imaging takes critically ill patients far from the hospital’s well-resourced trauma room. The CT scanner is used for the diagnosis of critical illness, injuries and trauma, and to assess the extent or severity of a condition. Physicians and staff desperately want a CT scanner within the emergency department, and many Islanders are determined to fund it for them.
QEH emergency physician Dr. Nicole Green says it is enormously stressful for nurses and physicians who accompany unstable patients to the CT scanner, knowing they are leaving the safety of the emergency department and its equipment behind. Having a scanner within the department would not only improve patient safety, but it would also improve working conditions for staff of the emergency department.
“Isolation from the resources of our trauma room significantly increases the risk to patient health,” says Dr. Green. “I can’t describe the feeling of sending your patient for a scan and then hearing an overhead announcement for a code blue in the CT scanner.”
Having a dedicated CT scanner in the emergency department will also allow more rapid access to essential brain imaging for stroke patients, as time is crucial in stroke treatment.
Grateful patient Michelle Hughes is a wife, mother, and terminal cancer thriver who has leant her support to the campaign. She was diagnosed with an ultra-rare terminal cancer in 2021 after being rushed for a CT scan from the emergency department.
“That CT was the first step to a diagnosis,” said Hughes. “It also started my journey to just live; seeing and creating joy in the often overlooked. One of my joys in life is helping others and right now, Islanders need our help in a big way.”
The majority of medical equipment at the QEH is funded by donations. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has launched its annual Friends for Life campaign to raise funds for the many medical equipment needs of the QEH, including the CT scanner for the emergency department.
The cost for a CT scanner is $1.3 million, funds that cannot be raised without many kind people coming together to make it a reality.
The QEH Auxiliary has kicked off the campaign with a leadership gift of $100,000. The Auxiliary is a volunteer organization whose main sources of income are three shops located in the lobby of the QEH: Lillibet’s Gift Shop, Royal Pantry Eatery, and Auxiliary Coffee.
To donate to the QEH Foundation’s Friends for Life Campaign, please call the Foundation office at 902-894-2425, go online to www.qehfoundation.pe.ca or mail a cheque to the QEH Foundation, PO Box 6600, Charlottetown, PE C1A 8T5.
For more information:
Kathleen Murphy
Director, Communications
QEH Foundation
kxmurphy@ihis.org
902-894-2956