Mitchell County Hospital Highlights Both AIS Equipment and Service

By Erin Register

Mitchell County Hospital, located in Beloit, Kansas, serves a large portion of North Central Kansas. This very progressive hospital system includes all facets of radiology, surgery, PT/OT, respiratory therapy, cardiac rehab, OB, a Level 4 Trauma center and many more services. As far as imaging services, Mitchell County Hospital provides everything in-house, including CT, MRI, ultrasound, vascular ultrasound, 3D mammo, nuclear medicine and basic X-ray.

Mitchell County Hospital receives equipment and service from Associated Imaging Services (AIS). Radiology Director Darren True spoke more about the hospital’s experience with AIS in a question-and-answer interview.

Q: How long has AIS been servicing your equipment? What has been your experience so far?
A: I believe with this stint it’s the fifth year. AIS services our nuc med, which we just purchased from AIS, and two of our ultrasound units. Mark Spangler used to service our nuc med, it was an old Picker unit, about 26 years ago. Our experience with AIS has been absolutely wonderful with service coverage. AIS responds quickly to service calls, and they are very knowledgeable and great to work with.

Q: What piece(s) of equipment have you purchased from AIS?
A: We purchased the Nuclear Medicine GE Millenium system. So far, it’s been a great purchase. The installation and onsite training was excellent. We are very happy with the new system.

Q: What are the most useful features of your system(s)?
A: I can’t pinpoint a specific feature, but overall it’s a great system. To me, the most useful and important feature is the quality and level of service that AIS provides. I can’t speak enough on the level of expertise and just the overall great friendly service and wonderful job Brian does with remote clinical applications.

Q: How has having this system affected your center?
A: It has dramatically reduced our downtime that we experienced with our old Philips nuc med camera.

Q: What has your full service experience been like with AIS?
A: Our full service experience has been friendly, knowledgeable and top notch.

Q: How has your relationship with AIS benefited your health center?
A: We’ve had great uptime with equipment, which improves patient and physician satisfaction. We’ve also become more reliable, with less downtime and less rescheduling of patients.

Q: Would you recommend AIS to other physicians/centers?
A: Absolutely, AIS does a wonderful job.