Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 12/98) - The Stanton Regional Hospital Foundation got a cash infusion on Tuesday.

The Royal Bank of Canada announced that it will donate $25,000 over the next three years to go towards buying a CT Scanner for the hospital.

Doug Nelson, Royal Bank's Yellowknife manager, said the bank wanted to do its part in helping pay for the $1.3 million scanner because it will improve health care for everyone in the Northwest Territories.

"You and your family members will be able to get medical attention here immediately," said Nelson. "And that can make a critical difference."

The CT scanner, also known as a CAT scan, is an important diagnostic device. It uses narrow beams of X-rays in two planes at various angles to produce computerized cross-sectional images of the body.

Currently, if someone in the NWT needs a CT scan, they have to be sent to Edmonton.

Cappy Elkin is the chairperson of The Together For a Healthy Campaign. She said they built the cost of the machine, the renovations needed on the hospital and any training needed for the staff who will operate the machine, into the $1.3 million cost.

She said having the CT Scanner will improve the quality of medical care people in the Northwest Territories now receive. It will also be cheaper than flying patients south to get a CT scan.

Elkin said having the machine will also help recruit and keep doctors in Yellowknife.

"Doctors coming out now are being trained with the CT scan as a diagnostic tool," said Elkin. "They count on the CT scan and if it isn't here they are very loath to come here."

The Royal Bank's contribution, they handed out $10,000 of it on Tuesday, will help change that. Nelson said he hopes that other corporations in Yellowknife and the NWT get behind the campaign as well.

"I recognize it's a big cost," said Nelson. "But this is one (campaign) I really hope they come to the table for."