Monument Health invests in future of nuclear pharmacy in Rapid City [Video]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Last month Monument Health opened its nuclear pharmacy facility. The building joins a facility in Sioux Falls as the only two of their kind in South Dakota.

But what does that mean for KOTA Territory patients?

“It’s like a compounding pharmacy, and we compound radiopharmaceuticals. And those are used for different types of imaging studies to kind of look at people’s hearts, bones scans. And what’s special about it is it’s all involving nuclear material,” says Monument Health Nuclear Supervisor Patrick Novak.

Novak added radioactive drugs help with conditions such as cancer treatments, gastrointestinal bleeding, cancer studies, and cardiac procedures.

Monument Health Director of Pharmacy Dana Darger said having a nuclear pharmacy building has its benefits.

“If we needed to do a heart study on somebody new this afternoon, we’d have to put it off until tomorrow,” Darger said. “Where today, with this nuclear pharmacy here, we can do it today if we want …