MRI - 10 years and going strong

A very significant birthday happened on the 15th of March. The South Canterbury MRI Scanner turned 10 years old. In these last ten years more than 35,000 MRI scans have been performed at Timaru Hospital. It is incredible to think that prior to the installation of the scanner, patients had to travel to Christchurch to get an MRI. As Nathan Taylor, Radiology Manager at Te Whatu Ora explains,

“The benefits of a local MRI scanner have been massive for South Canterbury and cannot be understated.  Prior to 2013, patients had to travel to Christchurch by private vehicle or ambulance.  This could be a whole day away for the patient and often a support person. In the last 10 years almost 36,000 patients have benefited from a local MRI Scanner”. 

It is hard to precisely quantify the health and economic benefits that the community has received, but needless to say they have been immense. When thinking about the travel alone, having a local MRI scanner has saved 115 million kilometres and 149,000 hours in the car.

Fundraising

The work on the fundraising appeal started almost two years prior to the opening of the scanner and was a joint initiative between the South Canterbury District Health Board and the Aoraki Foundation. The committee was led by Ron Luxton and included Chris Fleming, Gavin Wilton, Steve Earnshaw, Ian O’Loughlin, Anne Dickens, Ian Smith, Peter Burton, Lorna Inch and fundraising project manager Stacey Scott. As Ron says,

“It was a very busy time. We started the campaign with $1 Million dollars thanks to large donations from the Health South Canterbury Charitable Trust ($100k), Alpine Energy ($150k), AD Hally Trust ($250k) , and St Vianneys ($500k). I will always remember how, the day after we launched, I got a phone call to say an individual wanted to donate. Now, this was an individual, not an organisation. This person wanted to donate one hundred thousand dollars. That was simply astounding. We only gained momentum from there”.

Outside of the initial fundraising committee there were many other individuals that made a significant contribution, Nigel Davenport and Ken McKenzie from the Aoraki Foundation were heavily involved. As was Dale Walden from the St Vianneys Trust. In fact, these three supporters, and Ron, would become the initial Trustees of the Aoraki MRI Charitable Trust. Service clubs such as the local Lions and Rotary made major contributions along with funders Trust Aoraki and the Community Trust of Mid & South Canterbury. Like any project of this scale it needed the whole community to get behind the idea and South Canterbury sure did that. Within 18 months they had raised $3.1 million dollars which exceeded the cost of getting the MRI scanner operational.

Upgrade

The Aoraki MRI Charitable Trust wisely choose to lease the MRI Scanner to the South Canterbury District Health Board based on a recommended ten year life expectancy. These lease payments would enable the Trust to fully replace the scanner at the end of its useful life. As trustee Nigel Davenport explains,

“One of the best decisions made by the board was to use a model that ensured South Canterbury had ownership of our MRI, not the national health system”.

As the ten year lease period approached its expiry, the Trustees sought an assessment on the existing MRI. While the existing scanner was performing well, the Trustees also wanted to consider the future needs of our community and a desire to future proof as much as possible. Based on consultation with the SCDHB Radiology team and the supplier General Electric, it was agreed to upgrade rather than fully replace the scanner. The upgrade would provide better imaging quality, technology improvements, reduction in patient examination times, and the continuation of a comprehensive preventative maintenance agreement. While the upgrade came at a hefty cost of close to $1 Million dollars, it saves more than that again by avoiding a full replacement along with a significantly shorter downtime.

“The generosity of the MRI Charitable Trust has significantly improved the image quality of MRI scans.  A number of exams now have shorter times for patients and improve image results.  Patients who have had a MRI prior to the upgrade and after, have commented on improved comfort and shorter scan times, making them feel less anxious or claustrophobic.   The upgrade has also resulted in over 60 patients per year, no longer having to be referred to a higher spec’ed  MRI in Christchurch.  Ten years ago having the MRI available in South Canterbury was a huge achievement, this upgrade has ensured the future for another ten, with world-class technology”.

- Nathan Taylor

Aoraki MRI Charitable Trust Board

After ten years Ron Luxton has stood down as the Chair of the Aoraki MRI Charitable Trust with Dale Walden taking his place. Ron has been instrumental in the success of the South Canterbury MRI and we thank him for his service as Chair. Fortunately Ron will still remain on the board along with Ken McKenzie and Nigel Davenport. The Aoraki Foundation is proud to continue with the administration of the Trust including the finance and investing responsibility. Here is to the next ten years!!