Mrs.Carol Frank’s 4th grade class at Southwest Middle School
White County Medical Center mascot K.C. Koala recently made a surprise visit to Mrs.Carol Frank’s 4th grade class at Southwest Middle School to announce that the class name ‘Stitch’ was selected as the winningname of the WCMC ‘Name the Robot’ Contest.
Thefour-armed robot being used by physicians in the Operating Room is formallyknown as the da VinciTM Robotic Surgical System; however, now therobot has the nickname ‘Stitch.’ Students in Mrs. Frank’sclass will have the opportunity to see the robot in person during a field tripto the hospital.
“Congratulationsto all the students in Ms. Frank’s class on coming up with a clevernickname for our da Vinci robot,” said WCMC Director of Marketing BrookePryor. “We were so pleased with the level of involvement from teachersand students from throughout Searcy. Everyone was so enthusiastic about thecontest and interested in this incredible new technology we have at thehospital. We look forward to welcoming Ms. Frank’s class to the hospitalto meet ‘Stitch’ in person soon.”
Theda Vinci is being used for gynecological procedures, primarily hysterectomies,and thoracic surgeries with plans to use the system for general procedures inthe near future. To date, four OB/GYN physicians are trained on the da Vinciincluding Drs. Kris and Kyle Citty, Dr. Bruce Thompson and Dr. Bill Williams,as well as Cardiovascular Surgeon Dr. Miguel Aguinaga.
“Thisequipment is changing the way we do surgeries now,” said Tisa Carlisle,Assistant Vice President of Surgical Services. “It is a much moreadvanced method of performing laparoscopic surgeries, which is beneficial toour patients in that it can shorten the length of a patient’s hospitalstay and reduce post-operative pain.”
