Joshua Brown, 9, laid on the bed of a CT scanner at Cardinal Glennon Hospital with his arms folded behind his head, resting on a pillow.
His outfit was business-casual, wearing a light blue button up, yellow tie, and khakis. For years, Joshua Brown (a Cardinal Glennon patient with a brain tumor) has laid in the same position for testing, but on Thursday, Jan. 24, he was giving the 128-slice CT scanner a test run as he relaxed.
He gave a thumbs up to nurses, doctors, visitors who walked by the room. Lights changed colors on the white walls and Joshua remained fixated on the 55-inch plasma screen hanging from the ceiling. Toy Story 2 was on.
Changing lights and a flat-screen TV are features in Cardinal Glennon’s new $8.7-million Imaging Center.
On January 24, the hospital hosted an open house to showcase the new 10,000-plus square feet space. It’s complete with an MRI Suite, which houses a 1.5- and 3-tesla General Electric MRI machines.
The CT room and MRI suite allow children to select the colored lighting with an IPad. Children can also choose the movie or show they wish to watch.
Nathan Bennett, team leader for diagnostic imaging at Cardinal Glennon, said there are three major benefits to the new space.
First, the new CT scanner will provide imaging “that’s good for physicians” at a low-radiation dosage for the patients. For example, Bennett said, the CT scanner can perform a cat scan of the brain at six to eight times less radiation than the national average.
“The component of the CT that allows us to bring the radiation to low standards received FDA approval about six months ago,” Bennett says. “The (radiation) level we’re reducing it to has raised the bar in the industry.”
Second, MRI machines will offer “clinically-clear” pictures.
Third, children can create their own environments to remain calm and hopefully require less or no sedation before imaging.
About two weeks ago, Bennett saw the effects of the changes. A young patient who was supposed to be sedated before imaging peeked into one of the new rooms with his parents. The color of the room was changed to yellow, the little boy’s favorite color. Then, the boy was asked if he wanted to watch a movie.
“Little by little he shook his head, ‘yes,’” Bennett says. “It’s one of those moments where I can’t believe I just saw that.”
Bennett said he hopes more patients will have similar reactions to the new Imaging Center and will require less or no sedation.
The child-friendly atmosphere is not only during testing, though. The waiting room is decorated with board-game art: Sorry!, Chutes and Ladders, Monopoly and Candy Land. A receptionist desk sits inside the waiting room for parents to easily receive updates about their child’s care.
The hallway to imaging has circular artwork on the walls which light up as the patient passes. A smaller, separate waiting room is set up for families who have to wait multiple hours while a love one is in imaging.
“[The new Imaging Center] is amazing,” Rhonda Brown, Joshua Brown’s mother, said. “There’s more room to set up and feel comfortable because you have to be here for a while sometimes.”
Rhonda Brown said Joshua Brown loves the new space and likes the ability to change the colors in the room.
“I can see how this will calm children down. It makes a huge difference.”
