First Operation Performed at New Rush Hospital Building
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Staffers are quickly settling in to their new digs at the brand new Rush University Medical Center hospital building on the city's Near West Side.
As WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, on Monday, the first operation was performed there.
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Otolaryngologist Dr. Guy Petruzzelli had the honor of performing the first operation ever at the new hospital.
"It was a robotic operation on a very nice woman from the South Side who had a little tumor in her throat," Petruzzelli said.
He says even the patient was excited about being the first.
Petruzzelli added that all the newest technology was available to him in the operating room, including video communication with a pathologist who looked over a sample of a tumor that was shot to him in a pneumatic tube, instead of being walked over to the lab.
"Everything is brand new. There's the new OR smell," Petruzzelli said.
The 14-story, butterfly-shaped Tower building is visible from the Eisenhower Expressway.
At the base of the building, the hospital has put together an "interventional platform," which combines units for diagnostic testing, surgery, interventional services and recovery within close proximity of each other to improve convenience for patients.
The building also includes an advanced imaging center for such procedures as MRIs, CT scans, and ultrasounds.
The Tower is the keystone of a 10-year, $1 billion transformation plan at Rush.
