It has been nearly one month since the Cochrane Urgent Care Centre received a diagnostic ultrasound imaging system and a GlideScope Video Laryngoscope and already they’re being put to good use.
The equipment was a donation from the Rotary Club of Cochrane and the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Foundation, which can be used to stabilize emergency patients as well as to perform initial assessments of certain injuries and conditions.
According to Bruce Conway, senior adviser of media relations for Alberta Health Services, the equipment is being used one to two times per day. Currently physicians at the centre operate the equipment.
Following social media complaints about public access to the ultrasound equipment in Cochrane, he clarified that the equipment at the centre is portable and not a diagnostic tool. It is used to explore a variety of conditions and helps the care team with further treatment or to determine if a full diagnostic ultrasound is necessary.
Conway said Alberta Health Services examined the need for a full ultrasound service at the centre but was not allocated funds to hire ultrasound technologists or radiologists.
Conway said that service is available in Calgary – the closest clinic in Crowfoot – and physicians in Cochrane can prescribe the service to patients based on need.
