Two new CT scanners go into service in refurbished JGH facilities

Carol & Neil Weinman CT Suite inaugurated on June 10

After nearly two years of construction and renovation in the Department of Radiology, the JGH has inaugurated a pair of CT scanners that use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance images that are produced by exposing patients to lower doses of radiation.

Neil Weinman addresses guests at the inauguration of the two CT scanners that he and his wife, Carol, donated to the JGH.

Acknowledging the generosity of principal donors Carol and Neil Weinman, Erin Cook, Associate CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, said at a ceremony on June 10 that their gift has enabled the JGH and the CIUSSS to innovate with “unstoppable” power.

“The new spaces are much more than just rooms in a hospital, more than a place to have a procedure done,” Ms. Cook said at the launch of  the Carol & Neil Weinman CT Suite. “At the end of the day, they’re part of a story that connects us at a time when the community needs us more than ever.”

“Your gift is more than an investment in machines,” Dr. Errol Camlioglu, Interim Chief of the JGH Department of Radiology, said at the ceremony hosted by the JGH Foundation.

“It’s an investment in people—in our radiologists, in our technologists, in our nurses, in our other physicians and, most importantly, in our patients.”

Dr. Camlioglu predicted the new technology “will transform the way we diagnose and treat illness by detecting conditions at their earliest stages. This means quicker answers, better outcomes and peace of mind for thousands of individuals and families who walk through our doors each year.”

According to Dr. Camlioglu, the new equipment replaces two CT scanners that are showing their age after 15 years of service.

The new scanners, to be used for hospitalized patients and outpatients alike, have been installed in entirely new facilities. Once the old scanners are removed, their rooms will be renovated and used for other purposes. A third scanner in the Emergency Department will carry on unchanged.

Since the new machines use less radiation (making them safer for patients), the resulting images need to be enhanced, a task that AI is perfectly suited to handle. The final product “is really amazing—as good as or better than what we’re already used to,” Dr. Camlioglu says.

Equally important, he says, are the renovations in all of the related facilities—including the waiting rooms and the area where patients get their intravenous line inserted—which are now brighter, warmer and airier.

“This is very important, because it can be stressful for patients to come in for medical imaging,” he adds. “In our new surroundings, we fully expect they’ll feel much more welcome and at ease.”

Carol Weinman (centre) prepares to cut a ribbon to inaugurate the CT suite whose renovation was undertaken with a donation that she and her husband, Neil (fourth from right), provided. On hand to mark the occasion on June 10 were (from left) Jens Dettman, President and CEO of Canon Medical Systems Canada, which manufactured the two new CT scanners; Bram Freedman, President and CEO of the JGH Foundation; David Amiel, Chair of the JGH Foundation; Erin Cook, Associate CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal; Dr. Errol Camlioglu, Interim Chief of the JGH Department of Radiology; and Danyael Cantor, Principal Director of Development at the JGH Foundation.