QEH Eastlink Telethon raises more than $640K for new CT scanner

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown will now be able to buy a new CT scanner after the QEH Eastlink Telethon over the weekend.

The fundraiser brought in $641,525 an increase of more than $109,000 from last year's telethon and reached the funding goal of $1.5 million to buy the new scannera writtenrelease said.

"Completing the funding for the new CT Scanner is an incredible accomplishment for P.E.I.,"said Ed Lawlor, QEH Foundation Board chair in the release.

"We know this success will make an incredible impact on patients and their families."

The new scanner will be able to perform functions currently unavailable on the Island addedGailyne MacPherson, provincial director of diagnostic imaging.

One of those functions is fluoroscopy, an imaging technique that uses X-rays to obtain real-time moving images of the interior of an object.

"This new technology also means there will be considerably less radiation during patient scans," MacPherson said in the release.

Some of the money raised over the weekend will also go to other things like equipment for cancer treatment and some of the nursing units.

Eastlinkhas been providing the telethon production and broadcast, as well as arranging the entertainment, for 23 years.

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