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Workers use a huge crane to lift an 84,500-pound MRI unit into place at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Roseburg Wednesday.
Gary DuBois reported only one casualty Wednesday when crews used a 500-ton crane to lower a 149,500-pound piece of equipment into place at the Roseburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center — a several-years-old grafted cherry tree.
The VA’s imaging services manager said that was the only downside to the $2 million project that gives the medical center its first magnetic resonance imaging machine. Crews did wait for the tree to blossom and provide one last crop of ripe cherries before removing it, though, DuBois said.
And for him, the benefits of the Roseburg center having its own cutting-edge MRI unit far outweigh the loss of a tree.
Before Wednesday’s installation, veterans who needed an MRI would have to travel 175 miles to Portland. But if all goes according to plan, beginning Oct. 6, DuBois will be able to perform the scan in Roseburg.
Two years ago, DuBois applied for federal funding to purchase the MRI machine and was awarded the money. Rather than placing the new machine in the existing radiology center, officials at the medical center decided to house the machine in its own building.
MRI machines are sensitive to vibrations and therefore need to be housed in a room with steel plating, DuBois said. The machine is also loud when in use, and if it was to be placed in the main building, it would likely disrupt other patients and employees, he said.
Rather than build the structure for the machine on the VA campus, officials decided to have it built off-site and trucked to Roseburg, said Susan Helmuth, the medical center’s resident engineer.
A Hartland, Wis., company constructed two modular sections — one section houses the magnet, the other contains electronics and will be the patient waiting room, Helmuth said. Crews from Kevcon, an Escondido, Calif., company, spent a month installing underground utilities and preparing the foundation for the new building.
The building — with an overall size of 28 feet by 40 feet — took four months to build. If the structure were to be built on site, it would take about nine months, Helmuth said. The unit was trucked in two pieces from Wisconsin last week and arrived Tuesday after eight days on the road.
Employees and patients at the medical center Wednesday crowded around the north end of Building 1 to watch as a massive crane lifted the units more than one story into the air and gently set them into place on the foundation.
After several hours, the units — one weighing 84,500 pounds, the other 65,000 pounds — were finally in place. The new building is nestled between the north side of Building 1 and a 2004 addition that houses the radiology department.
The building still needs to be secured and the utilities hooked up, and it will have a brick overlay so it matches the original, said project manager Jeff Wiggins.
In the first year of operation, DuBois said he is anticipating that he will provide 1,500 MRIs. He believes that number will increase to about 2,600 in the second year.
DuBois said that of the hundreds of patients who need MRIs, some don’t receive the scan because it would require a trip to Portland. The machine at the Portland VA is constantly in demand and usually has a waiting period of five to six weeks, he said.
It’s to be hoped, DuBois said, that the new machine will change that trend.
“The biggest thing is people will be getting MRIs who need them,” DuBois said. “... People will be getting better care here.”
• You can reach reporter Marissa Harshman at 957-4202 or by e-mail at mharshman@nrtoday.com.
The VA’s imaging services manager said that was the only downside to the $2 million project that gives the medical center its first magnetic resonance imaging machine. Crews did wait for the tree to blossom and provide one last crop of ripe cherries before removing it, though, DuBois said.
And for him, the benefits of the Roseburg center having its own cutting-edge MRI unit far outweigh the loss of a tree.
Before Wednesday’s installation, veterans who needed an MRI would have to travel 175 miles to Portland. But if all goes according to plan, beginning Oct. 6, DuBois will be able to perform the scan in Roseburg.
Two years ago, DuBois applied for federal funding to purchase the MRI machine and was awarded the money. Rather than placing the new machine in the existing radiology center, officials at the medical center decided to house the machine in its own building.
MRI machines are sensitive to vibrations and therefore need to be housed in a room with steel plating, DuBois said. The machine is also loud when in use, and if it was to be placed in the main building, it would likely disrupt other patients and employees, he said.
Rather than build the structure for the machine on the VA campus, officials decided to have it built off-site and trucked to Roseburg, said Susan Helmuth, the medical center’s resident engineer.
A Hartland, Wis., company constructed two modular sections — one section houses the magnet, the other contains electronics and will be the patient waiting room, Helmuth said. Crews from Kevcon, an Escondido, Calif., company, spent a month installing underground utilities and preparing the foundation for the new building.
The building — with an overall size of 28 feet by 40 feet — took four months to build. If the structure were to be built on site, it would take about nine months, Helmuth said. The unit was trucked in two pieces from Wisconsin last week and arrived Tuesday after eight days on the road.
Employees and patients at the medical center Wednesday crowded around the north end of Building 1 to watch as a massive crane lifted the units more than one story into the air and gently set them into place on the foundation.
After several hours, the units — one weighing 84,500 pounds, the other 65,000 pounds — were finally in place. The new building is nestled between the north side of Building 1 and a 2004 addition that houses the radiology department.
The building still needs to be secured and the utilities hooked up, and it will have a brick overlay so it matches the original, said project manager Jeff Wiggins.
In the first year of operation, DuBois said he is anticipating that he will provide 1,500 MRIs. He believes that number will increase to about 2,600 in the second year.
DuBois said that of the hundreds of patients who need MRIs, some don’t receive the scan because it would require a trip to Portland. The machine at the Portland VA is constantly in demand and usually has a waiting period of five to six weeks, he said.
It’s to be hoped, DuBois said, that the new machine will change that trend.
“The biggest thing is people will be getting MRIs who need them,” DuBois said. “... People will be getting better care here.”
• You can reach reporter Marissa Harshman at 957-4202 or by e-mail at mharshman@nrtoday.com.
