Bison Imaging Featured by WDAY / InForum

FARGO, N.D. — A new Fargo-area company is bringing X-ray equipment directly to patients, with the goal of making diagnostic imaging easier to access for people who may have difficulty traveling to a hospital or clinic.

Bison Imaging, founded by husband-and-wife team Michael and Lisa KaKayGeesick, completed its first exams recently after about five months of work to get the company up and running.

The mobile X-ray service is initially serving Fargo, West Fargo, Horace and surrounding North Dakota communities. Potential clients include skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, rehabilitation facilities, clinics and other settings where transporting patients for imaging can be difficult.

"The main purpose is for us to provide a service where it's easier for these patients that maybe are not as mobile or have access to get to a hospital," Michael KaKayGeesick said.

Instead of transporting a patient to a hospital or imaging center, Bison Imaging brings portable X-ray equipment to the patient. Images can then be sent to a radiologist for interpretation, with results returned to the patient's health care provider.

Michael says that can help reduce the need for transportation and, in some cases, trips to an emergency room solely to obtain imaging.

The idea for the business grew out of Lisa KaKayGeesick's experience in the field. She has worked in radiology for about 20 years, including roughly six years specifically in mobile X-ray.

She said that experience introduced her to facilities throughout the area and showed her the role mobile imaging can play for patients who are difficult to transport.

"We felt like it was time to make it our own and make it unique," she said.

The idea of starting their own company came up about five months ago during a conversation at the couple's kitchen table.

"I asked Lisa if she was interested in starting a mobile X-ray company, and she asked me, 'Do you think we could?'" Michael KaKayGeesick said. "And here we are today."

Getting from that conversation to their first patient took months of work.

Michael KaKayGeesick said the process included setbacks as the couple worked through the steps necessary to launch the business. Completing their first exam this week marked a major milestone.

"When we got that first image and we got our first report back and the doctor was able to read it and provide his care to the patient, it was amazing," he said.

For Lisa, the milestone was familiar in one sense. She had performed mobile X-rays before, but it's different now that she was doing it through a business the couple built themselves.

"It's so rewarding just to see all the work that you've put in, all the work that we've put in together, and combine your background, combine my background, and do it together," she said.

They are now looking beyond their first week.

Bison Imaging is licensed to provide services in North Dakota, and the couple recently submitted an application to operate in Minnesota. Michael says the company is also working through the Medicare application process.

Once those steps are completed, they hope to expand their outreach to more facilities throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area.

For the couple, the experience has also been a lesson in entrepreneurship.

Michael says starting the business required accepting that not every idea or approach would work the first time.

"There are going to be setbacks, and you just have to keep pushing forward if it's something you truly believe in," he said.

Lisa KaKayGeesick offered a simpler piece of advice for others considering taking a similar leap.

"Don't be afraid," she said. "Just give it a try. Give it what you've got."

Bison Imaging takes X-ray services on the road

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