ROGERS, Ark. — Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas is opening an interventional radiology (IR) suite thanks to a $5 million donation from the Walmart Foundation.
"Since day one, Northwest Arkansas has been the home community for Walmart," foundation president Kathleen McLaughlin said. "We've been here over 60 years, and the half a million people that live in this region, we think many of them are customers of Walmart ... Our associates are here. This is home for us, and so being able to provide life-saving services for this community really matters to us."
Mercy and Walmart representatives joined a presentation on July 31. Using VR headsets, representatives had the opportunity to view the angiography suite featuring augmented reality.
Mercy Arkansas President Ryan Gehrig said the move to open the IR suite follows a plan they made with Dallas Firm HKS.
"This was in that plan," Gehrig said. "We identified, then, that we need a dedicated IR suite ... We have a 'now' plan — that was zero to 18 months — we got 18 months to three years, and then we have a three to five-year plan."
At the presentation, Dr. Jared Garrett explained what interventional radiology does. He will head the department that will provide Y90 radioembolizations. He said nearly 60 people a year join a list of those needing liver treatments.
"What we're trying to treat are those liver lesions, whether it's curative, such as primary liver cancer, or whether it's a metastatic disease from another cancer, such as breast or melanoma," Dr. Garrett said. "The liver tumor burden is what ultimately can cause death in a lot of the oncology patients. If we can take care of that, then we can prolong their life with a minimally invasive approach."
A press release explained that the suite "will feature the most up-to-date medical equipment, including a robot-controlled system that uses imaging techniques to show blood flow and guide minimally invasive treatments for various conditions."
Dr. Garrett said patients were previously forced to travel outside the region to receive this kind of treatment. He also adds that embolization can be used to treat other issues.
Mercy Arkansas President Ryan Gehrig said half of the $5 million will go toward a new IR angiography suite. According to Mercy Northwest Arkansas, the other half of the donation will go toward other Mercy Northwest expansion plans that have yet to be announced.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.