Help us create a more open surgery space with considerable benefits for patients.
An eye surgery operating theatre can get crowded. The surgeon, the anaesthetist, theatre nurses, and of course the patient, are all in there. Throw in an intern or resident learning vital new skills, and a support person for the patient… that’s a fair number of bodies and twice as many elbows.
What if the surgeon had more room? What if there were more opportunities for trainees and visiting experts to watch the operation in progress, in intricate detail, without being in the way?
Right now, Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation is raising funds to give an operating theatre a makeover that will take much of the equipment off the floor and suspend it from the ceiling.
A collection of state-of-the-art technologies will enable our skilled surgeons to work more efficiently and less invasively. Crystal-clear 4K screens will reveal the surgery area under brilliant new lights.
The result? Less time and more efficiency in the operating theatre, with a real impact on patient waiting lists.
We’re helping to buy some superb gear to fit out the theatre, such as
- a surgical video machine that can work with a range of eye operations, particularly the naso-lacrimal duct, the “waterworks” of the eye;
- brilliant new lights;
- a StealthStation navigation device, an imaging array that lets the surgeon accurately target the treatment area, through non-invasive 3D visualisations.
The technology will also be a great teaching aid, training the next generation of surgeons. The whole team can watch.
New equipment and more space will make a real difference in the theatre.
Head of Oculoplastic Surgery, Associate Professor Ross Benger, tells us how thrilled the team are by the prospect: “Through this support we’ll be getting a fantastic new OR lighting system. With the old system we had to bring someone in to move the lights. These you can move with one hand. And there’s none of the shadowing effect, where the surgeon gets in the road of the light. In fact the image is vividly shown on a screen in real time.”
The StealthStation will be a boon for one of the most challenging surgeries, of the orbital area behind the eye. “There’s a jelly-like fat there hiding the optic nerve. This viewing system will give us amazing accuracy and safety. We’ll clearly see how far our tools are from a tumour or the nerve.”
The high initial cost of the StealthStation will be covered by the foundation. After that software upgrades can be easily afforded by the hospital’s own budget. “Everybody is very excited, and grateful for the Foundation’s support,” says Ross.
The new theatre will especially suit oculoplastic surgery – from traumatic injuries, to unresponsive eyelids, to defects around the eye in newborn children.
We started fundraising for this just before Christmas.
An inspired donor writes:
This Christmas donation is a little late – but better that than never. I’m excited about this new project – a futuristic state-of-the-art operating theatre with a lot of equipment
suspended from the ceiling. Paint a few stars on a blue background and patients will think they’re in space.
I view all this with great wonderment, marvelling at the great strides modern technology is continually making. So many people will benefit from this, and the associated devices mentioned in your letter.
What next? I’ll watch this space as eagerly as Neil Armstrong watched his.
Best wishes for your continued good work.
Ailsa N.
Help us today to make the new operating theatre a reality. A donation for this new theatre will make a serious difference where it counts, on the ground, in the surgery, for every patient, and take some of the mental load off the doctors as well.
Campaign update:
Now for the Lights
Since December the Foundation has been fundraising for equipment to revamp one of our operating theatres. The response has been tremendous and some of the gear is already in use. Dr Peter Martin told us that “the first case involving the Stealth Navigation System … went without problems and demonstrated why the Stealth has achieved its reputation.”
The last items on our wish-list for the OR are the new lights: brilliant lights that can be moved easily by one hand, give instant illumination and avoid shadows over the work zone.
The difference to the patient is – more effective surgery, faster results, less time on the table, more patients treated. We won’t bore you with the dollar amounts (OK, it’s $60,000). We’d love to have the lights up and running in the next couple of months.
Brilliant lights and a better use of space will seriously improve the theatre.
