Together, We Can
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LaDonna Hammel was scheduled for surgery on November 15th, 2019. However, she specifically wanted to be put on the trial Hana Medical Bed at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital for her hip surgery. The Hana Medical Bed is a specialized bed that allows surgeons to perform the Anterior Approach to orthopedic surgeries. This approach provides better early post-operative outcomes because the surgeon works between muscle fibers rather than cutting through them. This approach needs the specialized bed because of the harder to reach access point for incisions. LaDonna would have postponed her surgery or gone to another hospital if she could not get on the trial bed. She had friends and fellow patients heading up to Calgary hospitals in order to undergo the Anterior Approach for their orthopedic surgeries.
LaDonna knew about the benefits of this approach which includes less damage to muscles, less post-operative pain, faster recovery, decreased risk of hip dislocation, better range of motion, and shorter hospital stay. At the hospital, LaDonna was told that a specific part for the bed was missing and needed to be delivered. LaDonna recalls that she would “wait until 6 o’clock at night for the part to come.” Luckily for her, the part arrived and she was able to undergo her surgery and head home in less than 24 hours.
LaDonna was lucky enough to be 1 of the 30 patients who had surgeries on the trial Hana Medical Bed. Out of those 30 patients, 27 of them were allowed to go home within 24 hours of surgery. The Hana Bed is primarily used for doctors to utilize the Anterior Approach, but the bed can be used by other orthopedic surgeons for fractures while they are on-call. It is a multifunctional bed that makes orthopedic surgery just a little bit less stressful for practitioners and patients. LaDonna was truly grateful that the hospital had access to the trial bed and said that her experience with the bed was “absolutely phenomenal.” She would love for the bed to be a permanent fixture in the hospital.
Thankfully, LaDonna’s dream will be a reality. Thanks to the support of the Medicine Hat Community and the donors of the Health Foundation our Hospital now has its own Hana Bed. This bed will bring many benefits to the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital with less patient wait times, recovery times, and infection rates. Thanks to patient testimonies, healthcare practitioner reports, and individual donations, together we are making a difference in our healthcare community.
