The Timmermeister Family Surgery Center, completed in
January 2008, features an addition of 24,000 square feet of space,
for a total of six new state-of-the-art, fully-equipped surgical
suites.
Lima Memorial now has a total of 11 surgical suites, including
two new open heart surgery suites.
The Surgery Center was made possible by a generous gift from the
Timmermeister Family. According to donor Bill Timmermeister, it is
exciting to see his family's long-standing relationship with LMHS
materialize and to see the Surgery Center come to life.
His grandmother, Kathleen C., was the Hospital's first female board
member and his father, John W., was a longtime board member and is
currently an emeritus board member. "We believe it [the Surgery
Center] is a wonderful new asset to the Hospital and a terrific
benefit to those in the 10 county health service area," he
said.
Open Heart Surgery
The Timmermeister Family Surgery Center has enabled LMHS to
include open-heart surgery within the same area as all other
surgeries. Now, the procedures will be done in the same surgical
area and have easy access to the rest of the cardiac areas which
are located next to the Surgery Center.
According to Ronald Pohl, medical director of cardiac surgery at
LMHS, the new state-of-the-art facility is instrumental in quality
patient care as well as in staff education. "Having the open heart
suites located within the surgery center will mean that we are
centrally located and able to facilitate patient services
easier."
General Surgery
The increased size of the surgical suites in The Timmermeister
Family Surgery Center benefits surgeons in several ways and in turn
patients should also see benefits.
The larger size of the surgical suites creates space for the
larger surgical equipment and things no longer need to be kept in a
storage area and brought in and out during procedures. Instruments
are immediately available when needed.
Overall, the surgery center is now more accessible, and has
improved visualization and safety aspects.