Among the members of the JGH colorectal surgery team are (from left) Raina Odegard, Licenced Practical Nurse; Sonya Brin, Nursing Team Leader and Coordinator of Robotic Surgery; Dr. Carol-Ann Vasilevsky, Chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery; Dr. Allison Pang, Colorectal Surgeon; and Adrienne Wheeler, Nursing Team Lead for General SurgeryDonations keep colorectal surgery at the Jewish General Hospital at the forefront of technology Don Sancton August 12, 2024 1508 As one of the top hospitals in Quebec, the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) excels at pushing the boundaries of medicine and offering exceptional patient care. None of it would be possible without donations to the JGH Foundation, which are needed to supplement public funding. Donors give the Hospital the agility to approach modern challenges from new perspectives by supporting the Foundation’s ongoing Tomorrows Are Made Here $400M philanthropic campaign. The Montrealer recently sat down with Dr. Carol-Ann Vasilevsky, the JGH’s Chief of Colorectal Surgery, to discuss how donors’ generosity has supported the vital work of her Division. How have donations to the Jewish General Hospital Foundation helped support colorectal surgery at the JGH? Dr. Vasilevsky: JGH Foundation donations have allowed us to become fully operational with robotic colorectal surgery. In this type of state-of-the-art surgery, our specially trained surgeon, Dr. Allison Pang, sits at a terminal a few metres from the patient where she sees a 3D image from the robot and controls its actions very precisely. Traditional laparoscopic surgery provides only a 2D image, so this is a big improvement. Donor funding allowed us to purchase a special remote-controlled multi-axis tilting operating table. Now, rather than having to realign the robot’s arms to access different areas of the winding colon, we can quickly and simply just reposition the patient instead. This speeds up procedures considerably. How does this new technology benefit JGH patients? With the help of the tilting table, robotic surgery can be performed safely and more efficiently. This not only saves operating room resources but also assists patients because the less time they spend under anesthesia, the faster their recovery time. It also frees hospital resources for other patients. It’s a win-win. Having such leading-edge technology also helps us greatly in the vital job of attracting and keeping skilled personnel at the JGH. What other equipment have donations funded in your department and how has that helped staff and patients? Donations have allowed us to equip all our newly renovated examination rooms with flexible sigmoidoscopes. These allow us to immediately view inside the colon in cases such as a patient coming from the Emergency Department with rectal bleeding of an unknown cause. It’s a very useful tool to allow us to see polyps or the source of bleeding to decide the appropriate treatment or intervention without having to take the time or resources for a full colonoscopy. Without donations, we wouldn’t be able to equip our examining rooms in this way. What’s on your wish list for new donations? The JGH Physiotherapy team, in conjunction with the Hope & Cope program, has been doing some excellent and innovative research showing how having patients take part in an exercise program in the weeks before colorectal surgery can significantly improve their outcomes and recovery time. It’s called “prehabilitation,” instead of rehabilitation after the fact. I would love to have the funding to scale up this work so we could offer this program to all our patients. What misconceptions do people have about colorectal surgery? I hate being called a proctologist! I’m a colorectal surgeon and we treat a whole gamut of conditions besides cancer, including blockages, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulosis and much more. It’s a very complicated but vital field. To make a donation to the Jewish General Hospital Foundation’s Tomorrows Are Made Here campaign, visit tomorrowsaremadehere.ca.
