MedBuild, the specialized healthcare division of Modular Space Corporation, has completed construction of a new PET/CT imaging facility for Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount, NC.
“Nash General Hospital was leasing a mobile PET/CT trailer at a monthly premium for years,” says Jim Gabriel, Director of Business Development for MedBuild. “Our patient-ready modular building solution saved them the costly monthly expense, and provides patients an aesthetically-pleasing environment. Within just six months, the new imaging facility was built, equipment was installed, and everything was fully operational. As a result, the hospital was seeing patients with no downtime, which translates to zero loss of revenues.”
MedBuild offers full architectural drawing and design packages covering 96 equipment models for the industry’s leading OEMs—including Siemens Healthcare, Toshiba, Hitachi, General Electric, and Philips—enabling imaging suites to be designed around the equipment. With MedBuild’s pre-configured designs, Nash Hospital was able to eliminate the extra planning and design time, delays, and expense that is typically associated with designing a modular imaging suite around the device.
Nash General Hospital’s 1,064-square-foot, patient-ready imaging suite houses an imaging room, an exam room, two private patient waiting rooms, and administrative office for the hospital’s radiology department. Additionally, the control room was designed around Nash’s specific computer system and to accommodate additional support equipment if needed.
MedBuild craned the building onto the site, which minimized site disruption and reduced site clean-up costs. The diagnostic imaging suite was comprised of two modular components and was seamlessly integrated into the existing hospital using the same interior colors and materials. The exterior was finished in brick, and a glass corridor was built to connect the suite to the hospital, providing a natural, open-air atmosphere when walking into the PET/CT suite.
“Once the exterior was finished to match the hospital, no one believes that this building is modular construction,” says Kendal P. Greco, Supervisor PET/CT and Nuclear Medicine for Nash General Hospital.
A steel and concrete modular construction method was utilized in building the imaging suite, as the building had to be non-combustible and a concrete floor was necessary to support the 6,500-pound PET/CT equipment. The imaging room was designed with lead-lined walls, door and viewing glass in order to contain any radiation omitted during usage. The specialized HVAC systems were designed to meet the hospital’s strict air-change requirements, which have to re-cycle the air six times an hour. Every detail in the imaging suite was tailored for operational efficiency and safety, from the best location of the sink, to the lead-lined walls, doors, and viewing windows required to retain radiation.
