The new CT scanner at the Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen is officially up and running.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the state-of-the-art equipment was held at the hospital on Monday.

Steve Backman, president of the Charlotte County Hospital Foundation, said it is a big day for the community.

“It supports our ER, it supports our clinics, it supports our local doctors, and most importantly, it prevents people from having to drive 100 kilometers in the winter to get a simple 15-minute procedure,” Backman told reporters about the new equipment.

The new CT scanner officially arrived at the hospital in early January. It was expected to be operational last fall but Horizon Health said it was faced with unforeseen delays.

Backman said part of that was because they needed to reinforce the floor before installing the heavy piece of equipment.

“And of course, when they started construction in an old building, they run into a few more hiccups along the way that has to be corrected too,” he told our newsroom previously.

Horizon Health said it waited to bring the CT scanner to the hospital until the renovations were completed in order to maximize the machine’s lifespan and warranty.

Getting a CT scanner for the local hospital has been a big goal of the foundation for many years, according to Backman.

Up until now, patients from Charlotte County had no choice but to travel to Saint John in order to get a CT scan.

The foundation launched a $700,000 fundraising campaign for the new machine in 2022.

Officials expected it would take around three years to hit that goal. Instead, it happened in just three months.

More than $262,000 was raised during the ninth annual Charlotte FM Radiothon in October 2022. Two months later, the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation donated $350,000 toward the initiative.

Celina Bountalas, director of medical imaging for the Saint John area with Horizon Health, said this new machine will be a game-changer for area residents.

“We know that over 4,200 patients every year have traveled to Saint John to receive a CT scan, and we project to see about 4,500 patients a year scanned with this CT,” Bountalas told reporters.

As Horizon Health looks to lower wait times for CT scans across the board, Bountalas said this new machine will have impacts on more than just Charlotte County.

“Patients who are willing to travel, who are able-bodied, have that transportation, will be able to come to Charlotte County. And likewise, patients of Charlotte County will be able to travel to Saint John,” she said.

“We are one Horizon, we’re one medical imaging team. So for that reason, this is a huge benefit to the Horizon network as a whole.”