GREENE COUNTY
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The Shane Meder Memorial Garden dedication included Meder’s former co-workers at Black Sheep Interiors, members of his family and hospital staff. MARK ENGEL/Staff -
The new 640 slice CT Scanner can scan a person’s body in one minute and the heart in only one beat. MARK ENGEL/Staff
It was raining hard, and the skies were dark outside Sunday, but everything was bright inside St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro as they officially dedicated new, upgraded diagnostic equipment and facilities. It is the result of a $3-million fundraising campaign that started in 2019, just before COVID.
The hospital opened in 2013 and showed off the latest new machines and building expansion to its board members, donors and other major supporters. The dedications also included a new outside memorial garden and a recently installed granite “Peace Pole” installed on the hospital’s front lawn.
A new 640-slice CT (Computerized Tomography) Scan System is now capable of scanning a patient’s entire body length in one minute, scanning the heart alone in only one beat and providing a faster diagnosis of stroke and damaged brain tissues.
It uses computer technology and x-rays to create as many as 640 “slice” images of specific areas of the body to help doctors identify problems and replaces St. Mary’s 64-slice CT scanner.
A 16-channel MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) was also purchased to replace a smaller parttime machine behind the hospital in an outside mobile unit.
MRIs also look inside the body but use radio waves and magnets. The quality of detail is said to be superior but takes longer than CT scans.
In St. Mary’s new MRI Suite, a shoulder can be imaged in about 17 minutes and a brain in about 10-12 minutes. Soon St. Mary’s will add cardiac MRIs to its repertoire.
Down the hall, the new Stress Lab will add space needed for the treadmill, EKG monitoring system, patient stretcher and workroom, which will allow more patients to be scheduled for heart stress testing.
The fundraising effort also allowed the hospital to expand with the addition of 2,200 square feet of space to house the new equipment and other facilities.
“We didn’t just put equipment in here,” St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital President Tanya Adcock said. “We did that, but we put the ability to care for more patients here.” Outside, behind the hospital, is a new rose garden, dedicated to the memory of Shane Meder, a local interior designer and strong supporter of the hospital. He served on the Board of the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation and, when he died in 2021 at the age of 60, the board decided to name the garden after him.
On the hospital's front lawn, a granite obelisk “Peace Pole” was installed last year as part of a worldwide project designed to spread the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”
Officially dedicated on Sunday, the St. Mary’s Peace Pole displays that message of peace in English on two of its four sides. Another side is in the Creek Indian language while the fourth side is in Spanish.