CMH Healthcare Foundation Helps Fund Community Memorial Hospital’s New Surgical Robot

The Community Memorial Hospital Healthcare Foundation has donated $200,000 to the Ventura hospital to help cover the cost of a new, technologically advanced robot that is aiding physicians in surgery at CMH.

Late last year, CMH became the first hospital in Ventura County and the only hospital between Los Angeles and San Francisco to acquire and use the da Vinci robotics system that is revolutionizing surgery around the world.

With the da Vinci system, physicians perform minimally invasive surgeries using three-dimensional imaging for a better view and robotic arms that precisely copy their movements. The $1.3 million robot can cut, grasp, cauterize and stitch inside the body. Using the robot helps make surgery less invasive and hastens patient recovery time.

The CMH Healthcare Foundation is the hospital’s fundraising arm. Proceeds from the Foundation are helping to pay for the da Vinci system. Foundation President Sandy Masiel presented the $200,000 check to CMH Board President Gary Wolfe on April 28.
“We want to be a leader in cutting-edge technology to provide the community with more surgical alternatives,” Masiel said. “CMH patients now have the option to have this technology in our area and not have to travel. That’s a benefit,” she said.
The da Vinci system was installed at CMH on Oct. 29 last year. Several surgeons are using the robot to aid them in urology and general surgery procedures.