Northwest Hospital Concludes Astounding Year

2010 has been a great year for Northwest Hospital. We thought 2009 was a banner year with the conclusion of the Renaissance Campaign and opening of the new Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Care Center, but this year was also met with some equally important milestones:

In January, the Northwest Professional Center on Carlson Lane opened. The 51,000 square foot medical office building houses the hospital’s administrative offices as well as physician practices and the new SurgiCenter – a state-of-the-art, outpatient surgery center features four large operating rooms, a special procedures room and an endoscopy suite.

In March, the Women’s Wellness Center opened. The center offers a holistic approach for not only a woman’s gynecologic care but also her other health needs. The center is led by Dr. Dee-Dee Shiller, a board-certified gynecologist, and employs a health coach, a registered nurse who works with patients to coordinate all aspects of their medical care.

In April, the Sleep Disorders Center was awarded accreditation by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Fewer than 20 percent of sleep centers in the Mid-Atlantic have earned this distinction, and Northwest was granted it only after a rigorous survey of areas such as patient safety, testing protocols, environmental cleanliness, and ongoing training of center physicians and staff.

In June, Northwest Hospital acquired a da Vinci® Surgical System, which allows surgeons to operate with robotic precision, making minimally invasive surgery safer and easier to perform.
In July, Northwest Hospital was the first in the United States and the second in the world to perform robotically assisted hand surgery. Stacey Berner, M.D., nationally recognized orthopedic surgeon and director of the Hand & Upper Extremity Center, performed this leading-edge surgery on the da Vinci robot.

In other surgical news, throughout the year, mini-port and single-port surgeries were performed with increasing regularity by Chief of Surgery Alan Davis, M.D., and W. Peter Geis, M.D., head of the Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery. Through the use of smaller and more sophisticated instruments, these new surgical techniques permit patients to experience smaller incisions and less surgical trauma, leading to less pain and faster recoveries. With single-port surgery, procedures can be performed with small instruments inserted through a single incision in a patient’s navel, resulting in no visible scar.

From July 2009 through June 2010 over 60,000 visits were made to the Northwest Hospital ER-7, making 2010 the emergency room’s busiest year on record. That Northwest is now a Primary Stroke Center, the growing population in the Randallstown area and the H1N1 flu outbreak all contributed to the increase in ER-7 patients.

In November, Northwest’s cardiac rehabilitation program earned certification from the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACPR). The AACPR looked at 14 different program aspects, including the skill level of the cardiac rehab staff, individual patient treatment plans and an assessment of the program’s patient outcomes in awarding this certification.

Also in November, ground was broken on a new healing garden, located near the hospital’s main entrance. The cost of the garden will be offset by the generous gifts of donors, and trees and shrubs have been planted. The garden, which will be receiving additional plantings in the spring, will provide a place of respite for patients, visitors and employees, helping to relieve stress and promote healing.

Northwest Hospital wishes everyone at happy and HEALTHY 2011!

-Holly Hosler