by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - TakeCare held a groundbreaking ceremony today celebrating plans to expand the FHP Radiology Department, located within its Tamuning medical facilities. CEO Jeff Larsen says the purchase of a new MRI 3.0 Telsa machine provides increased quality and affordable care at the FHP Health Center.

He explained, "The purchase of the 3.0T MRI is a $3 million reinvestment in our community that will bring much needed competition to services on island and provides more options for the members of our island community in availability of specific diagnostic and radiology services."

Once operational the 3T MRI has the ability to produce increased image clarity and contrast, which provides greater sensitivity for the detection of tumors, pathology, infection and inflammation. Larsen adds it also allows medical professionals to tell the difference between benign and potential hazardous medical conditions with more confidence. The MRI machine is scheduled to be up and running by May 2013.