The da Vinci Surgical Robot is the centerpiece of the Murphy and Helen Hull Robotics Centre at Humber River Hospital.  The Centre was established thanks to a transformational donation from the late Murphy and Helen Hull.When Ed learned he would need to have surgery to repair an unfortunate complication from surgery at another hospital, a wave of worry came over him. A hernia had developed at the incision site of his first surgery, and Ed was referred to Humber River Hospital’s Dr. Jensen Tan.

Dr. Tan used Humber’s da Vinci surgical robot to repair Ed’s hernia from inside his abdominal wall with only a few tiny incisions.

“I didn’t want to go through another bad experience, but the staff at Humber were receptive to all of my needs,” explains Ed.

Dr. Tan and his colleague Dr. Steven MacLellan recently established Canada’s first Robotic Hernia Repair Program at Humber River Hospital. With the help of a generous donation to launch the program, Dr. Tan used Humber’s da Vinci surgical robot to repair Ed’s hernia from inside his abdominal wall with only a few tiny incisions.  This minimally invasive approach decreased the risk of wound complications, resulted in less pain for Ed and shortened his length of stay in the Hospital. Repairing the hernia from inside the abdominal wall – which a surgeon can only do with da Vinci – also greatly reduced the likelihood that Ed would experience complications down the road.

“When I woke up from surgery, I felt good. It didn’t even feel like I had had surgery. The only time I was reminded of my surgery was when I sneezed or coughed and I could feel some soreness,” explains Ed.

Ed used his Integrated Bedside Terminal to log into his personal Netflix account.

For his short recovery, Ed spent less than 24 hours in the Hospital in a single patient room where he used his Integrated Bedside Terminal to order his meals and log into his personal Netflix account.

Today, Ed is on track to resume his daily swimming regimen – a mile and a third every single day. After his surgery, he was back in the pool within about 2 weeks.

“My experience at Humber was a complete 180 from the first hospital. This Hospital was amazing, from registration to my pre-op interview with my nurse, all the way to the end. The whole experience was fantastic,” says Ed. “Dr. Tan is a professional in every way. He even came in on his day off to see me. He didn’t need to do that.”

The da Vinci Surgical Robot is the centerpiece of the Murphy and Helen Hull Robotics Centre at Humber River Hospital.  The Centre was established thanks to a transformational donation from the late Murphy and Helen Hull.