PHILIPPI -
In rural areas of West Virginia, the medical services you may need aren't always just around the corner.
Broaddus Hospital in Barbour County doesn't have an MRI machine all the time, but when it does, it's on wheels.
"It just looks like a tractor trailer. You wouldn't know if you drove on the interstate if you passed it," said Rosemary Woods, an MRI technologist for Alliance Imaging.
MRI's are important in the medical field.
It gives doctors an inside look at variety of possible problems.
"If you're looking more at tissue, muscles, disk material in the lumbar region, thoracic, cervical, tumors, masses," Woods said.
The %1.5 million vehicle houses state of the art MRI equipment.
Believe it or not, the MRI machine that fits in the truck is bigger than MRI's at some hospitals.
"It accommodates large patients. It also accommodates claustrophobic patients," Woods said.
But perhaps the biggest advantage is the added convenience.
"It's easier for the patient to get to these facilities and I think the patients are more comfortable, because this is where they always come. So, when they can get a modality like the MRI that comes in and is available to them, it makes them more at ease because it's their hospital," Woods said.
It also saves hospitals serving small communities money.
"This is subcontracted by the hospital so it's more cost effective to utilize this modality that travels to rural areas, rather than to invest in it in small communities," Woods said.
Patients must have a written request by a doctor to have an MRI conducted. The service is available on Sunday mornings. For more information call the Broaddaus Hospital at 304-457-1760.
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