St. Joseph Mercy Hospital opened in AnnArbor in 1911.Over time it was remodeled, but eventually outgrown. Hospital leadership decided to move to a 365-acre parcel of land in Superior Township, just outside of Ann Arbor. A state of the art facility was built and opened in 1977, and has been serving patients at that location ever since. The 537-bed facility featured many amenities including all private rooms, which was revolutionary for its time.

Recently, the hospital has undergone another upgrade: a brand new patient tower opened in October of 2007. This is the first of two new patient towers for the hospital, with the second opening in Spring2010. Additionally, a new surgery pavilionopened in December of 2006.

MR Department

The Department began 1990 with one1.0T Seimens Magnet. Added a second GE1.5T magnet (Saline) in 1996. Since then we have replaced the 1.0T magnet with a GE 1.5T, added the Imaging Center 1.5TGE Twin Gradient magnet (2004), replaced the Saline magnet with a GE 1.5THDX system, upgraded the Imaging Center and Joe's magnets to HD and HDX respectively as well as our newest acquisition...Hitachi Oasis 1.2T Open Field MRI.

Why did you choose Hitachi's High-Field Oasis?

It has the highest field strength of any open field system on the market. The image quality is superior to other open systems. The design is such that the pillars are offset giving it a much more open feel and most importantly, we do not have to triage patient types for this magnet. It gets scheduled just like the other magnets.

How is Oasis Impacting your MR department?

The Oasis is very busy. We have been able to get some patients through who would normally have bailed out in one of our cylindrical systems. We are also accommodating a population of patients who would have had to go to an-other organization to have their study done.