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<\/p>\n\u201cThis is standard of care worldwide. We still do the same kinds of surgeries; we just do it better now,\u201d Van Zyl said. \u201cIt\u2019s minimally invasive, and it\u2019s not that the robot does the procedure; it\u2019s just a tool we use. [It\u2019s led to] excellent outcomes during and after, and recovery is better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s led to less pain after surgeries, hospital stays have been shorter, and wait times for have been shortened.<\/p>\n
In Alberta, robotic-assisted surgery has been around since 2009, with 16,725 procedures performed up to 2025. Edmonton was the first to adopt it in Alberta, followed by Calgary. Red Deer is the first to get the system in Alberta in approximately 15 years.<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s been a standard of care in Canada for over 20 years, but it\u2019s been in the United States for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n
Van Zyl compared operating the technology to driving a four-wheeler, adding that there are a lot of pedals, clutches, and different arms.<\/p>\n
He said the clutches move the three available arms, and he performs the surgery using those arms while looking through a computer screen that\u2019s viewed through a 3D camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t mention it, but the ergonomics for us as surgeons is actually a big thing. It will extend my surgical life by five years; otherwise, we all get arthritis,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Without it, many of these surgeries would be done either laparoscopically or through large-incision procedures, which take longer to heal.<\/p>\n
He said that now that it\u2019s standard of care, Van Zyl anticipates more patients will come to Red Deer because they have the technology. He said patients are now requesting this type of surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we introduced the system, our central zone patients can come here. In the past, a lot of patients we\u2019d do here and the rest we\u2019d send to the cities that had the system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He hopes that more communities throughout the province adopt the system in the future and believes they\u2019ve set a standard with what they\u2019ve accomplished in four months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would not be a smart idea for them to not do this. There are a lot of hospitals that could use this program and a lot of services that could use it. Currently, urology is the biggest user, but that can change as new systems come on board,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The da Vinci surgical system was acquired for the hospital by the Red Deer Regional Hospital Foundation for $3.5 million. Meanwhile, Acute Care Alberta funds the operational side of the system for an amount not disclosed by Alberta Health Services.<\/p>\n
Manon Therriault, Red Deer Regional Health Foundation\u2019s CEO, said between eight and 10 donors, including the Alberta Cancer Foundation, supported the foundation\u2019s decision to acquire the equipment.<\/p>\n
She said they fundraised to buy the equipment in approximately nine months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that speaks to the level of interest the community has in this type of technology. We are quite grateful for that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
These donations are a part of the capital funding they receive on top of the annual funding they raise for throughout the year, including through the dream home lottery and the festival of trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is standard of care worldwide. We still do the same kinds of surgeries; we just do it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-900322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}