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Hospital getting ready to open its Open MRI service
10.07 Open MRI pic
Effingham Hospital will have an open MRI facility ready by Dec. 1. - photo by Photo submitted

 For the first time, an open MRI will be established within Effingham County, Effingham Hospital’s Board of Trustees announced.

Effingham Hospital is pleased to provide physicians and patients with high quality Open MRI Services in a pleasant outpatient setting. The new Effingham Open MRI will be located at 613 Towne Park West Drive, Suite 104, in Rincon.
The open design is suited for all patients but is especially beneficial to children who need parental support, larger adults who may not fit comfortably in a closed MRI and anxious or claustrophobic patients.  

“We are bringing care to you, instead of you going to it,” said Norma Jean Morgan, Effingham Hospital administrator.
Said Ken Wimmer, hospital radiology director: “This brings big-city medicine to us.”

Effingham Open MRI is scheduled to be open by Dec. 1.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) utilizes radio-magnetic waves and computerized photographic techniques to produce high-quality images of the body.  

MRI is used extensively as a diagnostic tool, because it is a safe, noninvasive technique that does not use radiation. Unlike a conventional “closed” MRI scanner, an open MRI scanner does not place the patient in a tube or tunnel. Rather, the patient is placed in a much less confining imaging space.  

A receiver coil is placed around the body part that is to be scanned and then just that portion of the body is centered in the machine. Patients feel more secure, less anxious and experience fewer feelings of claustrophobia and restraint than with a “closed” MRI unit.  

Effingham Open MRI employs the GE Signa openspeed MRI system. This state of the art system provides patient comfort, while delivering consistently high-quality images needed for comprehensive diagnosis. Radiology Associates of Savannah’s board certified physicians provide all radiology services to Effingham Hospital facilities. Scans will be performed by a registered MRI technician.

Doctors will receive the results of scans within hours so that they can discuss care with personal physicians as soon as possible.

Hospital officials said they understand the power of good relationships and their goal is to be the MRI center of choice for physicians and patients.

All appointments at Effingham Hospital’s Open MRI will be made through the Effingham Hospital Imaging and Radiology Department at 754-0421.