Petersburg residents can finally get an MRI without leaving the island

For the first time, people in Petersburg can get an MRI without leaving town. The island community's medical center began scanning its first patients the week of June 25 — a milestone for a place where, until now, needing an MRI meant a trip off the island to get one.

The scanner is the latest piece of a hospital that's been steadily expanding what it can offer close to home, with a CT machine next on the list. Residents can see the new suite themselves at a community open house on July 14, which will also tour a telehealth pod, a public computer lab, and other new spaces — a gradual coming-online, the hospital's CEO, Phil Hofstadter, has been careful to say, rather than a grand opening.

The MRI sits inside a copper-lined "room within a room" that contains its powerful signals — a detail that drew a few questions from residents who'd heard worries about radiofrequency emissions. The hospital says the shielding meets every standard.