Sticks and Stones...

..may break my bones.

But a good x-ray machine will help get it fixed!

Our Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) needs a new one. Eventually it will move to the new hospital. It is estimated to cost almost $600,000. Less than a house in The County. It almost sounds like a bargain. And we are almost there!

Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation’s X-ray Campaign got off to a great start with the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Auxiliary pledging to match up to $150,000 between October 21, 2022 and January 31, 2023. What a success! The campaign raised $300,560 from 564 donors! Amazing. The Auxiliary will soon add the $150,000 to that bringing us to $450,560.

And, there have been some other generous organizations who have pledged their support through future fundraising efforts such as the Remax golf tournament supporters and our Royal Canadian Legion branches.

Now we have about $75,000 left to raise.

My curiosity wanted to know some history on the x-ray machine. The invention came about when a physicist named William Conrad Röntgen, working in a small German village, took a picture of his wife’s hand. To do so, he used rays that pierced the skin and revealed shadows of the bone beneath. At the time, he knew little about these rays so he called them x-rays.

The year 1912 marked a qualitative shift in the operation of the then X-ray machine.

Dr. David Bowen, based in a Pennsylvania hospital, began to devote his full medical career to using the X-ray machine, becoming an early specialist eventually known as a radiologist (or sometimes a Röntgenologist, in honour of the machine’s inventor). He was given his own department and, from 1919 on, had an assistant. Bowen was able to keep a percentage of the fees generated from paying patients who were a growing minority of hospitalized patients over this period. Bowen thus had reasons, both professional and personal, to encourage use of this new technology. The long-term gain is ours today.

I did some further research about x-rays. There were great misconceptions about them in the early days. For example, modest ladies were worried about their virtue due to rumours of x-ray vision; photography studios offered x-ray portraits. Over time the potential health hazards became better understood and use of x-rays shifted over to medical professionals - although x-ray imaging continued to be used in shoe stores up to the 1950's to study the fit of footwear. I have a vague recollection of this as a very little kid.

Creating the Diagnostic Imaging Department in our new hospital will involve a move of the new x-ray machine, along with the ultrasound unit and later this year we will be updating the mammography machine - all will have been purchased with the support of the Auxiliary and community donors. We also have a CT Scanner in the works for our new hospital.

 On a lighter note, I found the following "humerus."

Who's the coolest person in the hospital? - the "ultra" sound guy.

Who stands in for him when he's on leave? - the "hip" replacement guy.

And on a recent personal aging-person-check-your-backbone x-ray appointment, I learned we have our own "pope-mobile" in the PECMH imaging unit. As a community theatre person, I got to pretend for a few minutes but darn ...no white smoke.

If you'd like to jump into the x-ray picture at our local hospital, we'd love to “see” you! Donations can be made by calling 613-476-1008 ext. 4507, or by visiting the foundation’s website at www.pecmhf.ca.