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IMC Unveils Larger, More Powerful MRI Device

File: Intermountain Healthcare

Intermountain Medical Center has unveiled their new, larger and more powerful 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI Wednesday.

Linda Campbell is the MRI Coordinator for IHC’s Urban Central Region.  She says improving technology enhances the machinery in the real world.

“So it’s really come down to the physicists and the people that design the machines being able to make those modifications so that we’re able to make them bigger yet still get those high quality images of that high field magnet,” says Campbell.

She says the changes allow nearly four more inches of clearance around the movable platform to relieve claustrophobia as well as accommodate larger patients. She says the MRI Suite is also designed to reduce anxiety.

“So there’s big panel lighting that can change colors and it has a big LCD screen that’s on the ceiling so as the patient lies down and gets ready for the exam, they can look at, you know there’s different themes," says Campbell. "There’s like fish tanks, and there’s ocean views, or water falls or clouds. There’s even a children’s theme."

Campbell says even though the larger MRI device is more expensive to operate, the images are much better. It also expands the staff’s ability to serve a larger and more diverse patient population.

Bob Nelson is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in mass communications. He began his radio career at KUER in 1978 when it was still in Kingsbury Hall. That’s also where he met his wife, Maria Shilaos, in 1981. Bob left KUER for commercial radio where he worked for 25 years, and he is thrilled to be back at KUER. Bob and his family are part of an explorer group, fondly known as The Hordes and Masses, which has been seeking out ghost towns and little-known places in Utah for more than twenty years.
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