Kenora and Sioux Lookout are getting MRI suites. Here's why that's a big deal in northwestern Ontario

Health-care professionals in northwestern Ontario say the expansion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services in the region will be a game changer for patients, especially those who spend hours travelling from remote communities for care.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is the only hospital in the region that offers MRI, a non-invasive medical imaging technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to take detailed pictures of organs and tissues in the body.

Besides Thunder Bay, the closest option for patients in the northwest is going to Winnipeg.

However, that will soon change, with Lake of the Woods District Hospital (LWDH) in Kenora and the Meno Ya Win Health Centre in Sioux Lookout each getting their first-ever MRI suites.

"In the past, we would use CT (computed tomography), and that may not be the best choice, but it was better than sending our patients for multiple hours of travel, multiple days of wait, and resulting in a diagnostic dilemma that now is stretched out over a week — which could be solved on the same day," said Dr. Neety Panu, lead radiologist at the Meno Ya Win Health Centre.

"It is going to bring the ability to have the same diagnostic tools that everybody has to our patients."

The provincial government announced $7.6 million for the LWDH MRI suite in November. In January, before the election was called, $8.1 million was announced for the suite in Sioux Lookout.

"This in turn will help the patients as well in Thunder Bay because now their wait times won't be as long, right? So, it's a really big, twofold impact where this is truly putting patients first," Panu said.

Serving a large Indigenous population

MRIs are used to diagnose many health problems, including brain injuries, heart disease and various tumours and cancers.

"Anything to do with your muscles, your tendons, your brain, any soft tissue structures, it provides a lot more detail than those of an X-ray or CT scan," said Arianna Kitching, manager of diagnostic imaging at the Meno Ya Win Health Centre.

Sioux Lookout is a health-care hub for 33 surrounding First Nations, 28 of which are remote. While the town itself has a population of about 5,500 people, the hospital serves more than 30,000 patients.

"I think it's probably going to be one of the only MRIs in this country that would be serving such a large proportion of the Indigenous population," Panu said, adding that the hospital provides translators and culturally-aware menu options for its Indigenous patients.

Beyond getting quicker diagnoses, Panu said, having MRI services closer to home will also benefit patients' mental well-being.

"Anytime you're presented with a medical conundrum that involves you or your family, worry always erupts. So for patients, when they have three to four days of travel to get to something and then have the unknown to wait for the answer, it is a hyperbolic effect of the worry," Panu said.

The suite in Sioux Lookout will expand off the hospital's existing diagnostic imaging department and see renovations to about 1,900 square feet of space.

The hospital is finalizing its preferred vendor and is looking to put the project to tender this month and have a contract in place by the end of March. The goal is to have the suite up and running by the end of 2026, according to Kitching. 

The Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre Foundation has raised $2.5 million dollars so far for the scanner and supporting equipment.

Improving health equity across the region

In Kenora, where plans are underway to build a brand-new hospital, there was a recognition that the community couldn't afford to wait for the new facility before getting MRI services in place, said Cheryl O'Flaherty, president and CEO of LWDH.

"Our hospital isn't getting any bigger, so everything just gets smaller. But that's OK. We're willing to make sacrifices in office space and all sorts of things to make room for this MRI, because we see it as being so important to our hospital," O'Flaherty said.

Beyond those from First Nations, O'Flaherty said, residents from Dryden, Red Lake and Fort Frances also come to the city for medical services, which means having an MRI suite "will improve health equity for residents of northwestern Ontario."

"Patients are often waiting months, as some well know, to get that diagnosis, and so this will make their diagnosis faster," O'Flaherty said.

"It'll have a positive impact on our physicians who are caring for these patients as well because they're often waiting for that test to come back to refer them to the next level of treatment."

Like Sioux Lookout, Kenora's hospital foundation will also have to raise money for the capital medical equipment. A launch event for the "Beyond the Scan Campaign" to support the MRI, mammography and a CT scanner at the hospital is being held Feb. 12.

The hope is to have the Kenora MRI suite ready by mid-summer.