SIOUX FALLS, S.D. | In its ongoing efforts to improve the quality of rural healthcare, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust today announced new grants totaling more than $14.2 million to 50 hospitals in the rural Upper Midwest to purchase advanced x-ray technology, some of which will replace devices that are more than a half-century old.

“Our goal has always been to improve access to exceptional medical treatment for those who live in rural America,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “To that end, rural hospitals need to remain viable and have the latest equipment to ensure their patients can receive essential, quality healthcare services locally. This initiative is just one of many that strives to improve healthcare outcomes throughout the Upper Midwest.”

Critical access hospitals in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Wyoming are hampered by outdated equipment. Over the last four years, the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program has awarded more than $30 million in grants to 82 hospitals in the Upper Midwest to purchase state-of-the-art computer tomography (CT) scanners.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust’s latest initiative addresses outdated x-ray technology that underserves patients and jeopardizes the health of physicians and x-ray technicians, according to Panzirer.

The $14.2 million in grants will allow replacement of a total of 87 pieces of equipment, including: 32 fixed x-ray devices with an average age of 16 years; 47 portable x-ray devices with an average age of 28 years; threefixed fluoroscopy devices averaging nine years; and five portable C-arms with an average age of 16 years.

“With one particular grant to a rural North Dakota hospital, Helmsley is replacing an x-ray device that has been in service since 1967,” Panzirer said. “Technology has advanced so much, even over the last decade, that these grants, allowing for the purchase of advanced x-ray devices, will provide incredible benefits for medical workers and their patients for the foreseeable future.”

About the Helmsley Charitable Trust

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting effective nonprofits in health and select place-based initiatives. Since 2008, when Helmsley began its active grantmaking, it has committed more than $2 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural patients to emergency medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, and provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel. To date, this program has awarded nearly $390 million to organizations and initiatives in the Upper Midwest states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota Iowa and Montana. To learn more, visit www.helmsleytrust.org.