GBGH OR begins shoulder surgery as surgical program expands

Five members of staff in the operating room with a patient on the bed. They are looking at an image on a screen.

Dr. Olivia Cheng (front left), orthopedic surgeon, performs a shoulder repair surgery at Georgian Bay General Hospital.

February 11, 2020 – Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) is now providing shoulder repair surgery as part of the hospital’s expansion of surgical services. GBGH was funded for 33 shoulder surgeries in 2019-2020 by the Ministry of Health, enabling the hospital to provide this care to its community.

These procedures – including repairing the shoulder joint, rotator cuff and clavicular joints, as well as muscles and tendons of the arm around the shoulder – are needed within GBGH’s North Simcoe catchment area. Nearly 100 patients from Tiny, Tay, Midland, Penetanguishene, Springwater and Wasaga received shoulder inspection/repair outside this region last year.

“We are working diligently to find opportunities to expand our surgical program to benefit both our community and GBGH,” says Lucille Perreault, vice president of clinical services and chief nursing executive, GBGH. “We know how important it is for patients to receive care within their own community whenever possible and we’re very pleased to be able to provide this new service.”

In preparation for performing shoulder procedures, GBGH purchased equipment to perform these procedures including arthroscopes/laproscopes, a shoulder scope set and an E-Z lift beach chair and shoulder table accessory storage cart. The hospital was able to buy this equipment due to funds raised at the Glenn Howard Charity Golf Tournament for enhancing GBGH’s surgical program.

As shoulder surgeries are a new procedure for GBGH, the operating room team received the required training in the fall and the hospital began offering this service in November 2019. As of the end of January, GBGH had performed 15 shoulder surgeries and will complete all 33 cases by the end of March. Shoulder repairs performed at GBGH are typically day surgeries and are considered Quality Based Procedures, offering additional funding from the Ministry of Health to hospitals.

Local patients have already voiced their appreciation for having this service available close to home.

“In December I had rotator cuff surgery at GBGH and wanted to say how pleased I was with the whole experience,” says patient Paul Jagos. “The facilities were clean and updated with new equipment. The nurses, anesthesiologist and surgeon were courteous, kind and professional. Everything was explained so even I knew what was going to happen. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone involved for making my experience as pleasant as possible.”

The procedures are being performed by orthopedic surgeons from GBGH, Collingwood and Barrie.

Contact:
Jennifer Moore
Communications Officer, GBGH
705-526-1300 ext 5177
moorejen@gbgh.on.ca