Dec. 9, 2019
St. Joseph Warren Hospital and Gunnison Valley Health will both receive Safety FiRsT® grants to implement initiatives that will elevate patient and technologist safety in the workplace. Funded by Canon Medical and administered by the ASRT Foundation, the Safety FiRsT® program awards two ASRT members per year a grant of up to $7,000 each to improve radiologic technologist safety in their departments.
This year’s recipients are:
Katherine Miskovch, R.T.(R)(N), CNMT, who applied on behalf of St. Joseph Warren Hospital of Youngstown, Ohio. The grant will be used to purchase a Hoyer ceiling lift that allows technologists to move patients from floor-level surfaces to a chair or treatment table with ease. The new lift system is compatible with nuclear medicine equipment and will provide safety for the technologist, reducing potential back strain and subsequent injuries. It will also improve the comfort and efficiency of transfers for patients. The staff will also receive ASRT’s online educational product “Safety Essentials: The Series.”
“I am very grateful to Canon for sponsoring this grant for ASRT members to make their workplace safer for staff and patients,” said Miskovich. “Canon's generosity is appreciated in ways that affect all of us.”
Carlton Bruce, R.T.(R)(CT), who applied on behalf of Gunnison Valley Health in Gunnison, Colorado. The grant will be used to purchase a HoverMatt Air Transfer System. The patient handling device will provide enhanced safety in the lateral transfer of critically injured patients for imaging procedures. The system uses air mattress technology to protect the integrity of the patient’s injury while reducing shoulder and back stress on the technologist. The staff will also receive ASRT’s online educational product “Safety Essentials: The Series.”
“As a remote critical access facility in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, we experience a vast amount of traumatic orthopedic injuries due to our location and seasonal influx of tourists. Many of these patients have multiple orthopedic injuries from skiing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, white water rafting or backcountry skiing,” said Bruce. “The awarding of this grant will completely change our practice.”
The ASRT Foundation and Canon Medical Safety FiRsT® grants are funded by a grant from Canon Medical.