A new piece of technology has been added to the Cypress Regional Hospital's repertoire courtesy of countless donations from southwest residents and businesses.
Last fall the region came together during the Pharmasave Radiothon for Healthcare raising more than enough funds to enable the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation to purchase a thulium fibre laser system for $161,000.
The cutting-edge equipment recently arrived in Swift Current and is now in service, making the local hospital one of only two in the province with it.
"(My) appreciation is very high when it comes to the foundation consistently being able to pull things together to get these bits of technology that allow us to stay up-to-date with what is standard and modern," said Cypress Health Region Urologist Dr. Francisco Garcia.
The mobility and capability of the new unit vastly improved upon the holmium laser, which the foundation also purchased for the hospital in 2015.
Breaking up kidney stones will be the primary use for the thulium fibre laser with the hospital treating about 50-60 annually.
"The energy (on the new one) is much more focused, like a rifle, it will allow for treatment of the stone without the stone moving as much," he said.
The accuracy will allow two other procedures to be performed on a case-by-case basis, small bladder tumours and enlarged prostates. According to Dr. Garcia, he diagnoses about 25 small bladder tumours annually and 50-60 enlarged prostates.
"I hope down the road I have to learn a new technique to hopefully apply that to a different type of prostate surgery where we shovel it all out from the inside, as opposed to just cutting out a middle piece like we typically do," he said.
Crystal Imrie, the communications and development coordinator for the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation, was delighted to see the non-profit's work come to life and witness Dr. Garcia's reaction.
"Every year we get a capital list from the Saskatchewan Health Authority," she said. "Dr. Garcia was paramount in asking for this and getting it. We want to keep all our doctors here."