For 80-year-old Allan Saltern, having a hybrid operating room at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) would have meant less time spent recovering in hospital and more time doing the things that are important to him.
Saltern was born and raised in Peterborough before spending 35 years working for General Motors and living in Oshawa. Upon his retirement at the age of 55, he moved to Chemong Lake before returning to Peterborough to be closer to care services for his wife and 100-year-old mother.
A lifelong sports enthusiast, Saltern spent decades refereeing hockey and playing in old timer’s tournaments. He’s also a passionate angler who enjoys participating in fishing competitions.
“Nothing is like a day on the water because you have no worries,” he says. “You go out, whether you catch fish or whether you don’t. There’s an old saying: a day on the water is better than a day working. It just relieves all your stress.”
A hybrid OR means smaller incisions, fewer complications, faster recovery, and safer care
Saltern knows about stress as well as anyone. While in Tennessee in 2023 for his 50-year wedding anniversary, he began experiencing leg pains and could not walk very far.
When he returned home, his doctor referred him to vascular surgeon Dr. Sajjid Hossain at PRHC, who informed him he was at risk of leg amputation due to restricted blood flow. Saltern underwent a successful double bypass on his left leg and had balloons inserted into arteries in the right leg.
Unfortunately, he experienced a severe reaction to the complex vascular surgery.
“I spent 21 days in the hospital, and I was only supposed to spend five,” Saltern says. “I had to learn to walk all over again.”
According to Dr. Hossain, Saltern’s complications could have been avoided if PRHC had a hybrid operating room, which combines a fully equipped surgical suite with advanced medical imaging, allowing physicians to attend to vascular patients who often face multiple serious conditions at once.
A hybrid OR at PRHC will be the most innovative surgical suite in the region
With the ability for healthcare professionals to perform multiple minimally invasive procedures and open surgeries, a hybrid OR means safer and more cost-effective care with less impact on patients and better outcomes.
“A hybrid operating room will mean smaller incisions, fewer complications, faster recovery, and ultimately safer care for patients, especially in those emergency situations,” says Dr. Hossain. “This is what vascular surgery should be.”
A priority for the PRHC Foundation’s $70 million Campaign for PRHC to keep world-class care close to home at the regional hospital, the hybrid OR will be the most innovative surgical suite in the region.
“PRHC is serving a population with increasing rates of vascular disease, yet it is one of only a handful of Ontario’s Level 2 vascular centres without a hybrid operating room,” says PRHC Foundation president and CEO Lesley Heighway.
“When having one is the standard of care, not having a hybrid OR presents real challenges. It means difficulty recruiting surgeons who’ve trained on the technology and sending patients elsewhere for care where they’ll wait longer to receive it.”
A hybrid OR will transform vascular care and attract young healthcare professionals to PRHC
Vascular disease is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Canada. PRHC’s regional vascular program serves a population greater than 600,000 including patients from Peterborough City and County, City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, the Haliburton Highlands, and the region of Durham.
“A lot of the patients that I serve don’t live close to the hospital — they’re from rural communities and they already have to travel to access care,” Dr. Hossain says. “Having a hybrid operating room would allow our community and all of these communities to have access to the same level of care that they’re getting in a major city. They don’t have that at the moment here in Peterborough.”
PRHC has just four surgeons performing more than 1,000 vital vascular surgeries in two dedicated operating rooms per year — that is a patient volume equivalent to six surgeons. Dr. Hossain, who trained in a hybrid operating room, knows it would not only “transform” patient care but also attract more young healthcare professionals to PRHC.
“At their core, physicians want to help individuals, and they want to be able to work somewhere where they can help others to the best of their abilities,” Dr. Hossain says.
“Investments in advanced technologies, clinical programs, and support from the community really help show these young physicians — who are considering somewhere to put down roots and build their career — that this is a place where everyone is behind you, and everybody is going to support you to do what you were trained to do.”
Since government doesn’t fund equipment or technology, donor support is essential to bring a hybrid OR to PRHC
For patients like Saltern, a hybrid OR would mean less time spent in the hospital and away from caregiving for his aging mother, who he says also receives “excellent care” from PRHC.
“If Peterborough would have had a hybrid OR when I had my operation, it would cut down my stress level and made my family less worried about me,” Saltern says. “The care that I received at PRHC was excellent.”
“For vascular patients and their families, timely access to advanced surgical care close to home is vital — preventing strokes, loss of limbs, and death,” Heighway adds.
“We’re so grateful that patients like Allan, who’ve experienced great vascular care at PRHC but want even better for the next patient, are willing to share their stories to help everyone in our community understand just how essential it is to have a hybrid OR. Because of stories like Allan’s, we can all appreciate a hybrid OR’s crucial impact and get behind it with our support.”
Since learning that the government does not fund hospital equipment and technology advancements, Saltern has been vocal about encouraging donations to the PRHC Foundation, to ensure future patients are treated faster, with less risk, and have quicker recovery time so they can get back to the people and things they love most.
“We really need to have this hybrid OR to help people recover from their surgeries faster, relieve a lot of stress, and make it easier on the families involved,” he says. “Thanks to you, the donors, this will support Peterborough and the surrounding areas who rely on Peterborough Regional Health Centre.”
To learn more about bringing a hybrid operating room to PRHC and to make a donation, visit the PRHC Foundation website at prhcfoundation.ca or call 705-876-5000.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
