A $1,001,167 grant from Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation made possible the first posterior spinal fusion surgery performed at the Spence and Becky Wilson Baptist Children’s Hospital. Dr. Jeffrey Sawyer, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Campbell Clinic, successfully completed the surgery on Thursday, June 6.
Reaching this milestone required a year of planning and preparation for the hospital’s surgical, pre- and post-op, radiology and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) staff. The care teams met biweekly for the last year to plan for the best outcomes in patient and physician experience.
It was estimated the surgery would take six hours, but it was completed in only four hours without any complications.
Dr. Sawyer praised the hospital’s leadership, surgical teams and nurses for going above and beyond. “It has been great to watch people get a little out of their comfort zone to do something new and different,” he said.
