As part of our recent Donor Wall unveiling event, five Dartmouth General Hospital physicians sat down for a panel discussion around continuing innovation fueled by donations. Thank you to the participants and to all those who attended this lively and informative conversation with Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation President and CEO Stephen Harding.
Here are some excerpts from that conversation.
Dr. Carla Pittman – DGH Radiologist and Foundation Board Member
I think transformation is a good word to describe what’s happened at the Dartmouth General. I’ve been here for 26 years, and it has really transformed in those 26 years. The GI Genius, the Deanne Reeve Pelvic Health Suite, the MRI, the orthopedic robot, they haven’t improved care… they’ve transformed care. From my perspective as a radiologist, everything I do every day is because of the Foundation and donations. So, we have ultrasound machines, a CAT scan machine, an MRI, a bone mineral density machine, and x-ray machines, all working and allowing us to do our job. All of those machines were partially or fully funded through donations, so we could not do our jobs without your support.
Dr. Chad Williams – Gastroenterologist
Just above us here, on the 3rd floor of this wing, we have our own patient department where we do our endoscopies. And there’s a room there devoted to colon cancer screening. Monday through Friday, that’s what we do all day in that room. There is no other room like that in Nova Scotia. That was something that was equipped using donations from the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation donors that are sitting here. So that was fantastic, and we’ve been able to utilize that to its fullest. We’re doing high volume, quality work with that. Within Central Zone, actually within the province, we do the lion’s share of colon cancer screen right here at Dartmouth General Hospital. We’re really proud of that.
Dr. Jhase Sniderman – Orthopedic Surgeon
The new orthopedic robot that we’d like to get, it’s a new technology that’s slightly different than the one we have now. The new robot would not require a CAT scan, it’s an imageless technology. So it would allow the whole process to move more smoothly. And then for the operation, it uses a very similar technology to our robot now. It will add an additional resource so that Dr. Leighton and I, and our colleagues can do our jobs to the best of our abilities.
Dr. Scott Mawdsley – Site Chief for Surgery at DGH
The Deanne Reeve Pelvic Health Suite opened a year ago, February. So we’ve been in basically full time operations for well over a year. Results have been tremendous, from patient benefit and reduced wait times. With funding and donor support we have increased capacity for hysteroscopy and cystoscopy, and for cystoscopy I think we’ve tripled capacity so wait times have come down tremendously. It’s brand-new world-class equipment with tremendous patient benefit. I think it’s one of those win-win situations, reduced wait times and improved patient care.
Dr. Jennifer Leighton – Orthopedic Surgeon
The level of enthusiasm that our donor group and our Foundation bring, it just brings a level of confidence in the surgeons. It makes us feel great about what we do and excited to advance care and that is really what we’re trying to do here. And working with the Foundation has totally changed my outlook on our ability to innovate in Nova Scotia. It has been just a gamechanger for my practice, for my patients and for my passion to do these things. Their ability to get things done with the help of some of our very influential donors, some of whom are here, can really help sway things that often sit stagnant and just wither on the vine. And I just couldn’t be more grateful.
