ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City opened its hospital doors to a not-so-typical patient recently: a loggerhead sea turtle!
'Turtle 38' from the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island was discovered injured, floating in the ocean near Duck a few weeks ago.
The aquarium tells 13News Now that veterinarians are trying to determine if its shell injury is the reason the turtle is lethargic. To help with the diagnosis, the experts needed more than a simple x-ray.
So, the hospital made room for the turtle and performed the same kind of CT scan that is usually performed on human patients.
"I thought it was very interesting, very cool. It was something different. Definitely out of the norm for us," said Sentara Albemarle Lead CT Technician Suzie Ange.
It's part of a partnership between Sentara and the aquarium that dates a few years back. It started at the Sentara at Kitty Hawk, but moved after the facility stopped doing CT scans.
"They get a better idea of what’s going on with them if they get a CT," Ange said. "It’s 3-D images and you can see everything from the bone to the organs inside. It’s just better detail."
Ange, who has worked at the Albemarle hospital for 16 years, says she never expected to have turtle patients - let alone anything other than a human.
The entire Sentara Albemarle staff said they're happy to have a role in the rehabilitation of sea turtles.
"It's very special to us. I mean we treat them like family," she said. "It's very nice that they come and trust us with the care of these turtles."
The aquarium called the partnership 'phenomenal' and said the staff at Sentara are so generous to offer their time and machine for these turtles.
So far, Ange said five turtles have received CT scans at the hospital. We're told the veterinary school at NC State Raleigh passed along protocol and procedures for the Sentara staff to use when conducting the scans on the turtles.
