How’d crews get 4.5-ton MRI machine into Tacoma children’s hospital? Take a look
How do you move a multimillion-dollar piece of medical equipment into the second floor of a hospital? Very carefully.
Over the weekend, workers with Omega Riggers, Inc. helped to unbox and deliver a new MRI machine for MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, under construction across from the current hospital, 317 Martin Luther King Jr Way.
The machine, valued at $1.7 million, weighs 4.5 tons, and was placed on the hospital’s second floor.
The full-size MRI is much larger than the site’s miniature “kitten scanner,” which is used to show children how the scanning process works using stuffed animals.
Kendal Kemery, media representative for the children’s hospital, told The News Tribune in response to questions that the installation, including breaks, took about 6.5 hours.
The hospital’s design not only accommodated but anticipated the move.
“The glaziers left a precisely-measured MRI-sized hole (very small margin for error) in the exterior glass on the second floor, just above the new hospital tower’s covered drop-off zone that leads into the main lobby,” she said via email.
“Crews will be closing that MRI opening this week,” Kemery added.
Ahead of the MRI, other components, known as “MRI chillers,” went in first, along with equipment-closet gear. The chillers use helium to act as cooling units for the superconductive magnet inside the MRI, a Mary Bridge representative told The News Tribune via email.
The hospital’s construction progress was covered by The News Tribune in June. The new $480 million Level II pediatric trauma site with a six-story hospital tower is set to open in spring 2026.
Last month, crews started connection work to the existing outpatient center. Installation of exterior tower glass accents and lighting fixtures is ongoing.
