St. Mary’s Medical Center is the first hospital in Florida to acquire the Swoop® Portable MRI unit, capable of providing critical brain images at the patient’s bedside, to help doctors diagnose and treat patients. The unit will also serve Palm Beach Children’s Hospital patients.

This device is ideal to treat young patients, who might be intimidated by the conventional MRI system, which is louder and bigger than the portable MRI. It has the ability to perform a shorter scan with a family member in the room to hold their hand if they are not able to remain in one place long enough to obtain clear images. It can also help if a patient is too ill to travel to the MRI suite. With the Swoop system, brain imaging occurs at the patient’s bedside, where the patient is overseen by the primary care team, without traveling out of the care environment. Bedside imaging with the Swoop system means most patient support equipment can remain in place.