Despite the early hour and winter chill, a large crowd of Sumter Countians gathered inside the Pope Center on the South Georgia Technical College campus Friday morning for an announcement by Siemens. It was assumed by most in attendance that the company would announce that Sumter Regional Hospital had won the “Win an MRI” contest sponsored by Siemens. That contest pitted some 100 hospitals from across the country against each other, featuring two-minute videos on why the individual hospitals needed an MRI. Voters could vote daily for their favorite hospital. The video submitted by SRH, “Blown Away,” told the story of how the hospital was completely destroyed by the tornado of March 1, 2007. The prize offered was a Magneton Essenza, the latest in Siemen’s magnetic resonance imaging technology, valued at $800,000.

As Jeffrey Bundy, vice president, MRI division of Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., took the podium in front of the 100-plus crowd, he said he appreciated everyone’s involvement in the campaign. Before a live a Webcast started, he said there would be “a little bit of a twist.”

The Webcast originated in Lockport, N.Y., the location of what everyone in the audience thought was the number three ranked hospital in the contest. When voting ended Dec. 31, Sumter Regional showed 260,000 votes, more than 100,000 votes ahead of Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster, Wis., with Lockport coming in third. According to Siemens, the campaign generated 2.68 million video views with 1.4 million votes cast. There were 101 hospitals competing, many of which launched huge PR campaigns of their own to generate attention and garner votes.

When the Webcast went inside Lockport Memorial Hospital, a Siemens executive announced Lockport was the winner. As the hospital’s CEO Clare Haar took the podium, people in Americus appeared quietly shocked. As the people in Lockport cheered enthusiastically, the crowd here appeared stunned and confused.

The Webcast then moved to Americus where Bundy announced that although Americus had not won the MRI contest, the video had made such an impression that the company had decided to make a charitable donation of the new MRI to Sumter Regional’s new hospital scheduled to be completed in 2010.

“We’ve achieved our goals of increasing Siemens’ brand awareness as well as increasing the awareness in the public of the plight of small hospitals ... ” Bundy said. “But there’s something different here. There was something different that happened in Americus, Georgia about a year ago, and that story ... we were very touched. It hit a chord with us ... ”

Bundy said that after viewing the destruction in person, the story became even more powerful.

“It’s like it was just lifted up and removed from the community. But what it didn’t do, it did not remove the pride, the determination and the dedication of the community around this hospital. It was clear ... that the community has really rallied ... It’s been an incredible story ... ” Bundy said in announcing the gift of the MRI to Sumter Regional. “We want to be a part of the recovery effort ... ”

David Seagraves, president and CEO of Sumter Regional, said that the donation from Siemens “makes winners of us all.”

Thanking Siemens for gift of the MRI, Seagraves also thanked everyone in the community and “around the world” for voting in the contest.

“What’s important to us is that the people of this region will once again have access to state of the art imaging and technology when our new permanent hospital opens in 2010 ... ” he said. “We’ve been on a tough road since the hospital was destroyed by a tornado nearly a year ago, but it’s moments like these that give us hope and inspire us to keep going. As far as I’m concerned, today’s announcement makes winners of us all, and it could not have happened without Siemens’ incredible generosity and the ... support of the people here in Americus, across our, across our nation and overseas .... ”