Patients at Johnson Memorial Health Services will soon benefit from access to the latest computed tomography (CT) diagnostic technology made possible through a grant from The Leona M.and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program.
Helmsley has awarded Johnson Memorial Health Services $400,000 for a new 64-slice CT scanner. CT scanners provide essential diagnostic images of structures inside the body. A new CT scanner will allow for faster scans that produce high-quality images, allowing medical staff to quickly determine health status and course of treatment while giving patients access to up-to-date healthcare technology close to home.
“We’re extremely grateful to the Helmsley Charitable Trust for this very generous grant. The 64-slice CT scanner allows our providers to perform more rapid diagnosis and treatment. In addition, JMHS will also be able to offer new services including cancer screenings and 3-D imaging. Keeping care local is essential for the well-being of our patients and their families, and helps fulfill our mission of delivering excellence in health care to our local community and beyond,” said Stacey Lee, CEO, Johnson Memorial Health Services.
Johnson Memorial Health Services is one of 41 grant recipients across the region to benefit from this round of funding to purchase CT scanners. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program has granted over $30 million to support the purchase of new, 32-slice or higher CT scanners at Critical Access Hospitals in a seven-state region.
“Our goal is to ensure that people who live in rural America have access to quality healthcare as close to home as possible,” said Walter Panzirer, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “To achieve this, rural hospitals need to be viable and they need to have up-to-date equipment, so patients can receive essential healthcare services locally. This initiative is one of many that aims to improve healthcare access and health outcomes across the upper Midwest.”
The funding initiative was the result of a survey of Critical Access Hospitals in the Rural Healthcare Program’s seven-state funding region. Capital equipment, particularly CT scanners, was identified as a top need by many hospitals. In addition, a new Medicare policy went into effect January 1, 2016, that reduced reimbursement for certain studies on CT scanners that do not meet specific radiation dose requirements. Since 2015, the Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded 78 grants totaling over $30 million to outfit hospitals with new, state-of-the-art CT scanners.
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About the Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting effective nonprofits in health, select place-based initiatives, education and human services. Since 2008, when Helmsley began its active grantmaking, it has committed more than $1.8 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. Helmsley’s Rural
Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural patients to emergency medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, and provide state-of-the art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel. To date, this program has awarded more than $300 million to
organizations and initiatives in the upper Midwest states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Montana. For more information, visit www.helmsleytrust.org.