Local facility provides missing piece of imaging puzzle for county residents
Tallulah – It was time to hit the “update” button on the machine.
In a manner of speaking.
Formerly known as Tallulah Health Clinic, the Robbinsville branch of the Asheville-owned Appalachian Mountain Community Health Clinic seemed to have the resolution to a glaring omission installed and running just in time.
With Graham County Urgent Care temporarily closed – in part, to fit its new x-ray in the imaging lab – Appalachian Mountain Community Health Clinic is literally the only show in town when it comes to x-ray orders. The Pinnacle Platinum began its Graham County service Aug. 3, replacing a machine that was “over 20 years old,” as x-ray tech/medical assistant Hannah Anderson described it.
Just exactly how old might remain a mystery forever: Anderson could not even locate the paperwork from when the former model arrived at then-Tallulah Health Clinic.
“There was a need for a new one,” Anderson noted. “I threw the idea out there and they went with it.”
Purchased from Asheville-based Blue Ridge Imaging Technologies, – and with a price tag hovering in the $70,000 range – the Pinnacle Platinum has an adjustable-height bed (good for patients and technicians alike); a wrap-around station that can do x-rays on patients who are standing; and digital-imaging plates (before, Anderson was still rotating through a mixture of five different plates to load x-rays onto the computer for review).
“What used to take 10 minutes can be done in three,” Anderson said. “It’s the small things – other people don’t understand why I’m so excited about it, but I love it.”
The enhanced nature of the digital technology in the Pinnacle also cuts down significantly on a patient’s exposure to radiation.
“That’s my job as a tech,” Anderson explained. “On this, they barely get any radiation.”
Anderson will soon be out on maternity leave, but a temporary x-ray technician will be on-site in her absence.
Robbinsville’s Appalachian Mountain Community Health Center is located at 409 Tallulah Road. It is open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m., and offers primary-care, behavioral-health, pediatric and medication-assisted treatment (opioids) services. For details, call 828-479-6434.
Tallulah Pharmacy is also located inside the facility (Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., 828-479-4039); as well as PT Solutions Physical Therapy (appointment-only, 828-479-8320).