New surgical centre hopes to reduce wait times in Medicine Hat

“We spoke with other physicians and other dentists, and they’re saying ‘hey, this is the kind of thing that we would like to see in the community’ and honestly we’re looking at this more as a service,” says Ryan Jackson, co-owner of the facility.

Physicians also have the option to refer their surgeries to the resident dental operator Dr. Elwin Kershaw.

Although the centre currently only accommodates dentistry procedures, it hopes to expand to general and plastic surgeries by next year. Their focus is outpatient surgeries that don’t require an overnight stay.

“We do under general-anaesthesia extractions, implants and what not on the dental side,” says Jackson. “Then of course once we receive accreditation for general surgeries, we’ll be looking at doing other plastic surgeries and what not.”

Jackson says this is a good alternative to waiting weeks for operation room availability, or referring patients to other City’s like Lethbridge.

“There’s a demand for folks who would typically travel to Lethbridge to have dental procedures done and also other surgeries, day surgeries,” says Jackson. “There’s a limited amount of surgery time at the hospital so this was a need that we thought we could fill.”

The centre is hosting an open house Wednesday evening between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

by Jessie Weisner

New surgical centre hopes to reduce wait times in Medicine Hat

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