Thursday, March 20, 2008

Technology save time, gas for JCHM radiologist

by Kenneth Lassiter

Jefferson County Memorial Hospital’s newest radiologist may end up being only an infrequent visitor to the Winchester hospital.

Colby native Dr. Kipp Van Camp began reading X-rays for the hospital in January after performing those duties at the Atchison hospital since 2005. Earlier this month, however, JCMH installed a new digitizer, which allows hospital staff to scan the X-rays through it and send the images to Van Camp on his computer in Atchison for evaluation. So while the first couple months of his tenure at JCMH have involved trips between Atchison and Winchester to read X-rays, now he can save time and gasoline and do the vast majority of his job from Atchison.

“The digitizer is a nice piece of equipment to have,” Van Camp said. “I like the opportunity to read the films digitally and, this way, they can develop the X-ray film here, feed it into the digitizer and it shows up on my computer. It really speeds up the process.”

Van Camp graduated from the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1990 after doing his undergraduate work at Bethany College. He worked at facilities in Weston, Mo., until 1997 when he shifted to Atchison. In 2001 he took part in a radiology fellowship in Washington, D.C., before returning to Kansas and resuming his career here. He began work at the Atchison Hospital in 2005 and, on the recommendation of JCMH Chief of Staff Dr. John Eplee, added the JCMH radiology to his list of duties.

“Dr. Eplee knew they were looking for someone down here so he had me talk to (now retired JCMH CEO) Joye Huston about it,” Van Camp said. He and his wife, Tracy, have two sons, Colby, 9, and Weston, 4. “She said she would be interested but didn’t want to move forward with it until I talked to (new JCMH CEO) LaMont Cook about it. I met with LaMont and we took it from there. The hospital here doesn’t do a high volume of radiology work but if things keep building here, there will be a point in time they could.That potential is there.”

Van Camp’s duties at JCMH are pretty much limited to X-rays as the hospital doesn’t offer CAT scan or MRIs presently. He said he also performs such radiology procedures as biopsies and abscess drains as well. He said if that equipment is purchased in the future for JCMH the duties of the radiologist could rapidly expand.

“Each little piece of technology you add allows you to offer the kind of instant help you don’t get everywhere else,” he said. “The reason you invest in these kind of things and are willing to break even is because there’s a chance down the road it could grow into something more.

“There are a lot of things that could be offered here that would be really positive for the community. Anything you can keep in the local hospital is beneficial to the community, because if you can do procedures here it gives the people quick access that’s hopefully more affordable and definitely more convenient.”