St. Anthony receives $2 million grant for permanent PET/CT scanner suite serving Leon-area patients

ByDental Info

A $2 million Helmsley Charitable Trust grant will support construction of a permanent PET/CT scanner suite at St. Anthony Regional Hospital, replacing the hospital’s current mobile unit and adding backup CT capacity for regional patients.

St. Anthony Regional Hospital has received a $2 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to support construction of a permanent PET/CT scanner suite, a project expected to change how patients from Leon and surrounding Decatur County communities access cancer imaging.

The hospital announced the grant July 23, 2026. The permanent suite is intended to replace St. Anthony’s current mobile PET/CT unit and provide a backup CT scanner for the regional hospital.

What the grant will support

PET/CT imaging combines cancer-focused imaging with CT technology. According to the hospital’s announcement, a permanent scanner would provide more consistent access to cancer services than the current mobile-unit schedule.

Hospital officials said the project should reduce delays and travel burdens for patients in the region. The announcement did not provide patient-routing data, so it does not establish a guaranteed reduction in travel time or quantify how many Leon residents currently use the mobile service.

The additional CT capacity is also planned as a backup resource. That means the project is intended to support both cancer imaging and the hospital’s broader CT capability, although the announcement did not specify how often the backup scanner would be used.

What it means for Leon-area patients

Leon is the Decatur County seat, and the hospital identifies its care as serving communities across the area. The grant announcement is therefore relevant to Leon residents as a regional healthcare-service development, even though the project itself is not described as being located in Leon.

For patients who currently face appointments tied to a mobile-unit schedule, the planned permanent suite is expected to offer a more consistent local option for cancer imaging. The hospital also expects the project to help address delays and travel burdens for regional patients.

Timeline remains open

The $2 million award supports construction, but St. Anthony’s announcement did not state when construction will begin or when the suite will open. It also did not provide the project’s final total cost.

The scanner is not yet identified as operating. Until construction and opening details are released, the practical effect for Leon-area patients remains a planned improvement rather than an immediate change in available service.

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