by PAUL RAYNER

It seems the community of Boissevain and Morton will not have to dip into their pockets for much needed equipment after all.

According to Assiniboine RHA CEO Penny Gilson, a combination of provincial and ARHA money will be paying for the planned new diagnostic imaging services conversion to a digital system at the Boissevain Health Centre. She said the Province, through Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, prioritizes changes to equipment in phases. The RHA worked with them to get the community moved up on the list.

“Some of our sites were not prioritized,” Gilson explained, “and Boissevain was looking at fund-raising for theirs. We advocated with Diagnostics to have both Boissevain and Melita moved to Phase I. Both scored equally and they agreed to put them on Phase I.”

What that means is that the community itself will not be on the hook for the $111,000 cost for changing over to a digital system, which will allow for x-ray images to be sent to technicians and specialists in larger centres from Boissevain electronically, eliminating the need to send filmed copies. The same system is what is planned for Melita. Gilson said the ARHA advocacy was based on the concept of fairness.

“We think if these changes are being funded in other locations from the Provincial pot, Boissevain should not have to fund-raise, although there are legitimate cases for fund-raising in communities. The fact is, we were able to secure the moving to Phase I.”

The changeover will include three parts. One is changing the x-ray film processor to capture the digital image instead of using traditional film, known as Computed Radiology (CR), costing $61,000. The second is linking Boissevain through an ADT system to the provincial client registry computer system so the electronic identification and tracking of a person's imaging is possible, at a cost of $35,000. The third is a connection to the provincial RIS/PACS system (Radiology Information System/Picture Archiving and Communications System), which allows the digital images to be viewed instantly by radiologists in other locations. This costs $15,000.

Gilson said the Province would be paying for the CR conversion and the RIS/PACS parts of the package. The ARHA will be paying for the connection to the client registry.

“The ADT is required to make it work,” she explained, “and the ARHA will be looking for the dollars. We will have to find it within our existing funding.”

This is welcome news to the community and its Health Care Recruitment Committee. Through community donations, they were looking to possibly fund the entire project. Boissevain Mayor Ed Anderson said he found out about the new deal on November 22, and was very happy indeed.

“I really want to thank CEO Penny Gilson and the ARHA for announcing Boissevain is prioritized into the Phase I category,” Anderson stated.“The ARHA administration are excellent, congenial people and working with them is a good fit.”

He added it would give the committee the opportunity to focus its efforts into recruiting and retaining health care professionals in the community. One of their strategies is to sign health students to funding-for-service agreements, where the committee commits to contribute to students’ education fees in return for serving in Boissevain for a set amount of time. Anderson said this is highly important and helps the Regional Health Authority.

“The funding is wonderful news for Boissevain because it allows us to fund for something we are already good at, which is retaining health care professionals. This is the best way to help the ARHA help keep our Health Centre open. They have a challenging chore in this huge ARHA area recruiting doctors and nurses in their sites. If we can work with them and assist them in the process, that is our mandate.”

Despite being put into Phase I, Gilson said it could still take some time to get the system in and operating, projecting it could take until 2009 for it to be completed.

Anderson said he would be discussing with groups who have already donated to the diagnostic fund regarding what they want to do with the money now.