Mayo Clinic Health System officials announced Thursday the hospital plans to install a new CT scanner and patient lift in the Albert Lea hospital’s radiology department.

Installation of the new devices is expected to be completed next month.

The scanner will have improved image quality and fast image acquisition, and the lift will allow for better patient and staff safety, the hospital system said in a press release.

A mobile CT scanner will reportedly be available for Albert Lea patients needing basic emergent exams, and patients needing scans during the first few weeks of the scanner’s installation might be scheduled at other Mayo Clinic Health System sites or after the new machine is operational.

“We are pleased to add this new CT scanner, with its enhanced imaging capabilities and safety features for our patients, to our radiology services in Albert Lea,” said Jason Steinle, radiology chairman for Mayo Clinic Health System Southeast Minnesota Region. “This latest investment continues our commitment to bring the best of Mayo Clinic’s technology and medical practice to our community.”

Steinle said the hospital invested $2.2 million in 2015-16 for a new MRI scanner and a new MRI suite.

The hospital said other work being done at the hospital includes $720,000 in improvements to the Cancer Center and $2.75 million for a campus cooling plant.

While revenue from MRIs, CT scans and other procedures stays local, the radiation/oncology services in the Cancer Center are leased by Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Though that means revenue from those services is sent back to Rochester, Mayo Clinic Health System spokeswoman Mandie Siems said the hospital is making sure equipment is upgraded, and the department’s employees mainly live in the Albert Lea area.

The hospital system is also reportedly building short-stay observation beds near the Emergency Department.

“These beds will allow staff to keep patients for observation for a variety of reasons, such as recovery from short-stay surgery or effects of sedation, rehydration or observation after an injury or illness brings them to the Emergency Department,” according to the release.

The hospital plans to transition the inpatient psychiatric services from Austin to Albert Lea this summer, which is expected to bring an inpatient census of about 10 to 12 patients per day, the release stated.

In a statement Friday in response to the press release, Jennifer Vogt-Erickson of the Save Our Hospital organization said Mayo “continues to demonstrate tone deafness to patient needs in Albert Lea.”

“This is at least the third press release Mayo has issued on the Cancer Center and cooling system,” she said. “It is grasping for things to promote.”

“Through the efforts of Save Our Hospital, we have brought to light how patients’ lives are being put in unnecessary turmoil, local jobs are being lost, and patients are paying higher costs. We ask Mayo to keep critical inpatient services located in Albert Lea and cancel its consolidation plan.”