Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Robotic platforms have begun to revolutionize the capabilities of operating rooms. In particular, these tools are valuable for the adoption of minimally invasive surgery, which leads to less pain for the patient, shorter hospital stays, less risk of infection, less blood loss, and shorter recovery. The El Paso County Hospital District d/b/a University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC El Paso) has worked to build our robotics program and capabilities. Hence, our project submission is to fund the purchase of a Da Vinci Single Port (SP) robot. It is important to note that this Da Vinci robot would be the first and only single port robot in our market and surrounding region. There are several other reasons why this is important. One, as our community’s safety net hospital, it helps us ensure that every individual, regardless of ability to pay, has access to the best and highest level of medical care and technology in our region. Of UMC patients, approximately thirty percent are uninsured. Two, as the regions primary teaching hospital with our partners at Texas Tech El Paso, medical residents have the opportunity to train on state of the art robotics equipment. This not only strengthens the capabilities of our future workforce but also helps recruit residents and other health care professionals, all of which builds El Paso’s overall surgical capacity and health care availability. In 2021 alone, University Medical Center and El Paso Children’s Hospital (a part of our hospital district and on the same campus) was home to 280 residents and fellows in partnership with the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center of El Paso. Third, the Da Vinci Single Port (SP) provides a valuable tool in the treatment of urological and ear, nose and throat, cancers, which are not yet being performed with this type of technology in El Paso.
