Spring/Summer Issue 2014

by Lynne Haley, senior director of development

Earlier in this issue you read about Mr. Bear, an Australian Sheppard-Rottweiler that received life-saving brain surgery. Mr. Bear is one of thousands of patients who have been helped because of MRI. But after 18 years of dedicated service to our patients, the lifespan of our MRI machine is quickly approaching its end.

As we look to the future of patient care, a new MRI cannot wait. Your gift will bring exceptional care to patients and offer hope to the clients who love them. To Mr. Bear and the thousands of other patients this machine really is more than a machine. It is a life saver.

Why WSU and Why Now?

The WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital is the only place in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada that offers high-field MRI that can accurately diagnose patients large and small. The nearest comparable MRI machine is more than 800 miles away from Pullman.

In the last five years, more than 2,000 animals have received MRI scans. Dogs, cats, horses, bald eagles, grizzly bears, sheep, and even a ferret have received enhanced diagnosis—often lifesaving— with this sophisticated machine.

WSU is also the only veterinary hospital in the Pacific Northwest with a high-field MRI that can easily be used on horses. With its larger hole (70 cm diameter bore) clinicians using the new MRI will be able to scan further up a leg or down a neck, improving diagnostics.

Map of location of MRI patients

Many of our MRI patients come from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and western Canada. Patients have also from Alaska, California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Ohio, and Texas, and as far away as Virginia and Florida.


 

Number and types of patients receiving an MRI: bear - 5, sheep - 1, ferret - 1, cat - 117, horse - 557, dog - 1534, camelid - 3, cow - 4, bird -4

Number and types of patients, that received an MRI scan from 2009-2013 at WSU. Bird patients include one cockatoo, one swan, and two bald eagles.


Learn about our MRI fundraising campaign.