BLOOMINGTON - Doctors and nurses at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center are treating patients with aneurysms, strokes, carotid artery disease or peripheral vascular disorders using the latest technology, thanks to a donation from a community leader who died in November 2005.

Oscar Mandel Cohn donated more than $1.5 million to the Bloomington hospital - the largest gift ever received by St. Joseph, Administrator Ken Natzke said. Hospital staff used the money to equip its new neurovascular angiography suite. On Thursday afternoon, the $2.7 million suite was blessed, dedicated and named for Cohn.

"I think he'd be very proud," his friend Elsie Kauffman said after the ceremony attended by about 50 people. The care that Cohn received at St. Joseph and his interest in health care and technology led to the gift.

The centerpiece of the suite is a biplane radiography unit that is only the fifth of its type in operation nationwide and the first in Central Illinois, Natzke said.

The unit contains imaging equipment with two rotating X-ray cameras that take a variety of pictures of a patient from various angles, explained Dr. Ajeet Gordhan, a neuron-interventional radiologist with Bloomington Radiology who is among sub-specialists treating patients using the unit.

The unit takes better images than the previous equipment, allowing doctors to see, diagnose and treat conditions more quickly, said Lisa Zoeller, St. Joseph director of medical imaging.

Zoeller said about 40 patients have been treated with the unit since the suite opened several weeks ago.

BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Normal anticipates having a biplane radiography unit operational in summer.