St. Mary Medical Center Foundation

Ambassador Circle Members Learn About Importance of Surgical Expansion

As Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology, Dr. Everts made the case for the expansion of surgical services. “St. Mary serves a community of more than 420,000 people,” he said, “and the demographics of that population is getting older, consequently requiring more surgical services. We perform approximately 15,000 procedures annually, with 130 active staff surgeons covering 18 specialties. The evidence clearly indicates the need for an expansion of services.”

The leadership team made it clear that patient care, now and in the future, was the foremost priority. So as to not disrupt current patient care, the team decided to divide the expansion program into stages, lessening the interruption of surgical services.

“We organized focus groups comprised of health care design planners and architects working together with current surgical, anesthesia and nursing staff to critique and analyze our ongoing design process,” Dr. everts said. The resulting expansion program embraces four important components—the number of people requiring services, the quality and safety of the operating rooms, the need for state-of-the-art technologies, and physician recruitment.

“When St. Mary was first built in the 1970’s, the rooms were considered to be models of excellent planning and design,” he said. “Now, however, there are capacity restraints that impact surgical scheduling as well as cause an overcrowded work environment. Advances in technical equipment and the technologies themselves require more space that will allow the medical team to operate in an optimum work environment.”

The specific technologies Dr. Everts was referring to are robotics and interventional neurosurgery. Robotics allows for minimally invasive surgery, with smaller incisions, less pain and scarring and shorter hospital stays for the patient. “The benefits to the patient are many,” Dr. Everts said. “He gets to go home faster, with a reduced risk of infection and a quicker time to resume normal activities.”

“Endovascular Neurosurgery,” he continued, “is also a minimally invasive treatment for neurovascular diseases affecting the brain. These surgeries replace open techniques and are performed in newly designed fluoroscopic operating rooms utilizing specially designed catheters which treat problems from within the blood vessels.”

Throughout his talk Dr. Everts stressed the importance of the individual patient and explained how the expansion program would continue the hospital’s mission of treating the patient with dignity. “Twenty-two individual pre- and post-op rooms will afford our patients and families increased privacy, and that will positively impact overall patient satisfaction.” he said. More than one member of the ambassador Circle remarked how Dr. Everts’ talk had impressed upon all of them the need to further their support of St. Mary Medical Center in its future endeavors.

*The Ambassador Circle is comprised of community leaders who are dedicated in their advocacy for St. Mary Medical Center. They provide financial support as well as outreach into Bucks County and surrounding Delaware Valley.