November 15, 2006
Wednesday

Ketchikan, Alaska - Construction on Ketchikan General Hospital's (KGH) new Women's Diagnostic Imaging Suite began on Monday, November 6th with the arrival of supplies, equipment, and a set-up crew from Dawson Construction. Although there may be occasional extra noise, disruption resulting from this project is expected to be very minimal. A careful timeline has been developed for phasing the construction so that patient services will not be interrupted.

The suite will not add to the footprint of the hospital. Rather it is a re-configuration of existing space to allow for the grouping of diagnostic services used by women. Care was taken to design the space for increased privacy and comfort. Mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, computer-aided detection, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and bone density scanning are the services included in the suite. Along with the reconfiguration, new state-of-the-art bone densitometry and ultrasound equipment replace older models. Computer-aided detection, used in every mammogram, is a brand new technology for KGH.

Men and children benefit from the new equipment as well, but will use separate entrances to maintain privacy. The ultrasound in particular will provide increased diagnostic capabilities for cardiac, abdominal and vascular conditions.

The Women's Diagnostic Imaging Suite is the result of the first campaign of the recently established KGH Foundation. This one-year campaign, which culminated in June, raised $250,000 of the $450,000 total project cost. The remaining $200,000 was budgeted by the hospital. In addition, KGH employees are raising funds to purchase artwork and educational materials for the suite. An early spring ribbon-cutting celebration is planned.

The long awaited Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy renovation will begin on December 4th in the rear portion of hospital's north wing. Dawson is the contractor for this project as well. This renovation has been aided by a $477,000 grant from the Denali Commission towards the $1,200,000 total cost. "Our physical and occupational therapists have been inconveniently located on the third floor for several years," stated Patrick Branco, CEO. "We're thrilled to be able to move them to the ground floor where they will be much more accessible for our patients with injuries."

The space being renovated was formerly the Maintenance Shop, adjacent to the rear emergency entrance of the hospital. Patients will be able to park in that area and have direct access to these therapies. An early summer completion date is projected.

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Ketchikan, Alaska