"We are so grateful for the generosity of the community in supporting this important initiative," says Jack McMahon, Chair of the Caritas Hospitals Foundation Board. "These facilities tremendously benefit many patients needing surgery, shortening their recovery and allowing them to quickly regain their quality of life after surgery."
The newly renovated operating theatre is equipped with state-of-the-art digital equipment, including advanced digital scopes and instruments, voice-activated lighting and cameras and large screens that allow the surgeons to access and assess the surgery site and guide their instruments.
The fully integrated digital operating room and wired teaching space will advance Caritas Health Group's work in minimally invasive surgery. This surgical approach is less invasive because surgeons make smaller incisions and insert a probe resulting in less blood loss than with traditional surgery. Patients heal faster and can return to their productive lives much sooner. It also requires shorter hospital stays so it improves patient throughput for the hospitals.
"Technology has radically transformed the way we do many types of surgeries," says Dr. Mike Chatenay, Medical Lead for Surgery at the Grey Nuns. In the past decade, Grey Nuns surgeons have been using minimally invasive techniques for such procedures as colorectal cancer surgeries, esophageal procedures, appendectomies, bowel repairs, and hernia surgery.
"Foundation support to acquire advanced technologies for our operating rooms has helped us to recruit leading-edge surgeons such as Dr. Cliff Sample," says Dr. Chatenay. "This development will allow us to advance and expand the scope of our practice and enhance our care, conduct important research and help us train the next generation of surgeons."
The operating room is connected to a technology-enhanced auditorium, where up to 180 students can watch a procedure as it is performed. The students have access to several views—including the surgical tools in action, the incision areas, the surgeon's hands and the entire operating room set-up. The surgeon can speak to the students and answer their questions as the surgery is performed.
With support from the Foundation, a second digital operating theatre will be opened at the Grey Nuns later this spring and two digital operating rooms and teaching space are planned for the Misericordia Community Hospital. At the Grey Nuns, surgeons could perform 1000 to 1200 procedures per year in each theatre.
The Minimally Invasive Surgery programs at the Grey Nuns and Misericordia Community Hospitals are part of a larger regional initiative. Capital Health's Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery (CAMIS), based at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, offers leading-edge expertise in surgical management, education, training and research. In addition, the Centre also provides innovative research in MIS education and training.
| 
