Council works with private sector to bring MRI to Cold Lake

Cold Lake, AB – Cold Lake City Council passed a motion to authorize the City of Cold Lake to work with a local medical imaging clinic for the purchase and operation of an MRI machine in Cold Lake.

Council agreed to fund the purchase of the machine up to $1.75 million and enter into a partnership agreement with CGA Medical Imaging to recoup as much of the cost of the machine as possible over the span of its operation in the community. While Alberta Health Services has not supported Cold Lake for an MRI for the region, the city and clinic will work with Alberta Health Services to qualify the service for direct referrals and coverage under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan.

“A lot of things need to happen for this to all come together – from the selection of a machine to renovations of the clinic and ironing out a plan for the machine’s operations,” Mayor Craig Copeland said. “But Council was excited enough at this opportunity to give our administration the go-ahead to take the next step. If we are able to make the necessary arrangements and plans, we will have an MRI on its way to Cold Lake.”

The Lakeland region currently does not have a permanent MRI machine in operation. A mobile unit currently divides its time between Camrose, Lloydminster, Cold Lake, Westlock and Hinton.

“We’ve been told that our region does not have the demand needed to justify positioning a permanent MRI here, but the wait times, impacts to businesses, and the distance that people from our region must travel for an MRI, tell a very different story,” Copeland said. “We increasingly hear from residents in Cold Lake and throughout our region about travelling to private clinics in Edmonton to pay for MRIs that are needed. We will bring that service closer to home, and we feel strongly that it should be included within our public healthcare system. We can’t wait for the capital costs to finally fit within bureaucrats’ budgets – we will work to make this happen for the community.”

Under the agreement, the city will finance the machine while the clinic will cover the costs of renovations, staffing, and maintenance. The city will recoup as much of its expense as possible through revenue sharing.

“Our staff are always open to innovative means of bringing crucial programs and services to the city and the region as a whole,” Copeland said. “This is a service that will have an immediate impact on our resident’s health outcomes and was an easy decision to make. We are helping take some of the risk out of bringing the service to our community and overcoming the capital, staffing costs, and other competing priorities in other jurisdictions that have also been cited as reasons for AHS’s inability to see this service stationed here.”

With the agreement authorized by Council, the City’s administration and CGA Medical Imaging will work together to finalize details in the agreement, the purchase of an appropriate MRI machine, as well as the plans needed to take delivery of the machine and put it into operation, which will likely take over 12 months to procure, install and commission.

CGA Medical Imaging is a proud, community-based diagnostic imaging provider, serving Albertans since 2015 with its state-of-the-art location at Cold Lake. From its beginnings, CGA has been committed to advancing access to high-quality medical imaging, becoming the first to install a mammography machine in the Lakeland area to support early breast cancer detection and screening.

Over the past decade, CGA has grown from a single location into a trusted network of full-service diagnostic imaging centers across Alberta. Today, the company offers a comprehensive range of medical imaging services designed to support physicians and improve patient outcomes through timely, accurate results. With a focus on innovation, accessibility, and patient care, CGA Medical Imaging continues to expand its footprint and services, ensuring that communities across Alberta have access to the diagnostic tools they need close to home.

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