Courtney's Courage Blood Drive Held August 4 - Goal Exceeded
South Lyon Medical Center's Blood Drive for Country Cliften held on August 4 was a huge success. The goal to raise between 35 and 40 units was well exceeded with 52 units of blood drawn. Special thanks to all who donated.
The Blood Drive was set up to assist local resident Courtney Cliften, whose father Mike has been a physical therapist at SLMC for over 20 years.Days after her graduation from Yerington High School in early June, Courtney became ill with severe respiratory distress. She was airlifted to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, where doctors determined she should be transported to Salt Lake City.
Courtney was diagnosed with pneumonia, a pulmonary embolism and acute respiratory distress syndrome. She has been an extremely healthy young woman, so this illness came unexpectedly. She has also required transfusions of over 200 pints of blood (the average human body has 10 pints).
Her parents, Mike and Cindy Cliften, have stayed with her in Salt Lake City as she courageously battles for her life; and these transfusions have been essential to her eventual recovery, along with her own determination, her family's support and excellent care from the doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center.
United Blood Services has agreed to allow donations to continue throughout the month of August in Courtney's name. Anyone wanting to donate may do so at one of United Blood Services offices located in Reno (775-329-0454), Sparks (775-354-2929) or Carson City (775-887-9111).
Our Radiology Department offers a wide range of services including X-ray, CT Scan, MRI, Barium studies and Ultrasound. The department is staffed by four technologists and a front desk specialist. All technologists are certified by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologist (ARRT). All X-rays are read by radiologists from Great Basin Imaging with results sent to your health care provider. You may obtain copies of your X-rays through the department with notice. The first copy is free. Due to the high cost of supplies, additional copies may require a fee. For appointments or information about services please call Extension 243.
The newest addition to our Radiology Department is the GE Lightspeed Ultra 8 Slice CT machine. This new state-of-the-art unit decreases the study time while increasing the resolution and the diagnostic ability. The GE machine performs 8 slices per second and allows SLMC to perform most all CT outpatient studies including inner ear studies, carotid studies as well as the ability to diagnosis pulmonary embolism. This unit is available 24-hours a day 7 days a week in our emergency room and 5 days a week for routine outpatient testing.
The Radiology department takes advantage of today's technology with our Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) and teleradiology. Through these two systems we are able to transmit radiographic patient images and consultative text from one location to another for comparison reading.
A new ultrasound machine was added in 2007. With this state-of-the-art machine, SLMC can perform most outpatient tests including Doppler ultrasound used to evaluate blood vessels. Routine outpatient studies are available on Tuesdays.
SLMC offers Mammography services to our patients by appointment. Services are provided by Certified Mammography Technologist Mary Burns and read by a radiologist from Great Basin Imaging. SLMC also utilizes state-of-the-art technology in mammography which provides a second "reading" by computer. This important preventative exam can be scheduled Wednesdays and Fridays. Please call extension 150 to schedule an appointment.
The laboratory was completed and the new lab opened in March 2009. This new facility provides a separate waiting area for laboratory patients and is located conventiently near the admitting office. This beautiful modern facility was made possible by the South Lyon County Hospital District Board of Trustees.
We have recently acquired a state-of-the-art hematology analyzer that helps identify pre-leukemic and anemia patients. This analyzer can run hundreds of samples per day. It also give the technologist and the pathologist more information before reviewing a blood slide.
Talk about growth, we not only act as a "Stat" lab for the hospital with a short turn-around-time, a reference laboratory for the clinics, but we also perform testing for more than 600 out-to-town physicians with over 1,000 different fax numbers. This is where the new laboratory information system comes in to play - faxing results and maintaining the logs of the faxes for all of these doctors.
We have also increased our outpatient testing hours to include Saturday mornings from 8:00 a .m to noon.
