Sen. Jeff Sessions takes tour of new Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children
Sen. Jeff Sessions (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- As Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions listened to Dr. Edward Colvin explain what was going on in the operating room on the other side of the thick glass, Sessions noticed that the lights in the high tech OR at the new Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children kept turning off and on.
Once back in the hallway the subject of the lights came up. A hospital official explained to Sessions that the lights were controlled by a computer program that adjusted light in the room as sensors detected shadows cast by the moving doctors and nurses in the room that might obstruct a clear view of the patient and the on-going procedure, in this case, the removal of a small piece of extra muscle on a part of the heart of an 11-year-old that was creating an arrhythmia problem for the child.
"You mean the computer knows when there is a shadow blocking a clear view of what the doctor needs to see and turns off one light and turns on another and does it without anybody having to do anything," an amazed Sessions asked. The answer was yes.
"That's remarkable. Just remarkable," said Sessions as he glanced back into the dark control room of doctors and technicians who were watching the on-going procedure.
The room and OR that Sessions had seen is the most expensive piece of real estate in the new hospital, about $3.5 million alone to equip and that's not counting the cost of the doctors, nurses and technicians in the room, the hospital's chief operating officer, Tom Shufflebarger, told Sessions.
Alabama's junior Republican senator made a quick stop at the new hospital Thursday to get an update on how it was going since it opened in August.
"We were here about a year or so ago and it was just a shell and construction was still going on so I wanted to spend a little time today to see how things were going and hear from the staff and doctors," said Sessions.
From pediatric cardiology, Sessions was shown the new emergency room with special attention to the hospital's four new and large trauma rooms. On this morning's visit, all four rooms were quiet
But, Sessions was told that could change in just minutes when the call is made by parents or paramedics that they were on their way to ER with a child in medical trouble.
In 2011 that call came 57,410 times said Dr. Peter Glaeser, director of pediatric emergency and vice chairman of pediatrics at UAB. In 2012, Glaeser expects that number to exceed 60,000.
On one day alone in 2011, the hospital's old ER saw 67 trauma cases in one day. That day was April 27, the day that saw deadly tornadoes sweep across the state.
"These new trauma rooms, our whole system in ER, is designed to do one thing and do it quickly and effectively and that is assemble a team of doctors and nurses from across the various specialties who swoop in here to access the condition of the patient and then begin treatment," said Shufflebarger, who then pointed to a clock on the wall with bright red zeros.
"In emergency care, there is something called the golden hour," said Shufflebarger. "Studies show that the first hour of treatment in a trauma is absolutely critical. That clock starts when a patient is wheeled into this room and in that hour we bring every bit of knowledge and know-how to bear to give the patient every chance to survive. These new rooms, this new equipment, helps us make that happen better than ever before."
Shufflebarger told Sessions that the hospital he was touring was as good, as advanced, as any children's hospital in the nation. The statement made an impact on Sessions.
"This is a remarkable hospital, the best of its kind not just in Alabama or the south, but the nation right now. That is something every Alabamian should take pride in," said Sessions, who will take his impressions back to Washington.
"We in government need to pay attention to what those in the field are saying and doing when it comes to health care," said Sessions. "We have problems in so many areas but we know our system of medical care is second to none in the world and this new hospital is proof of it they make mi."
