TD donates to Dartmouth’s orthopedic surgeries

DARTMOUTH, NS — The Dartmouth General Hospital continues to grow as a regional leader in orthopedic surgeries. The hospital’s orthopedic department already handles the highest load of hip and knee procedures in the province, and they are poised to become busier with the help of a $333,333 contribution from TD Bank Group.

“We’re the highest-volume hip and knee centre in the province,” Dr. Brendan O’Neill (pictured), Dartmouth General site lead for orthopedic surgery, said in a news release.

“We do over 80 percent outpatient surgery, which is amongst the top in the country, and that benefits the patient but also the overall healthcare system. This incredible gift from TD will greatly help us build on that success.”

Wait times for joint surgeries and replacements are notoriously long in Nova Scotia, but recent improvements at Dartmouth General have helped chip away at the problem. The hospital opened the Fred Smithers Centre for Orthopedic Care in 2019 to try to tackle the issue, and roughly 2,000 more procedures are performed annually at the facility.

Another major advancement came in 2022 with the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Mako Smartrobotics device that allowed Dartmouth General’s Dr. Jennifer Leighton to perform the first robotic hip replacement in Canada.

Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation president and CEO Stephen Harding said in the funding announcement that the contribution “will help drive innovation and further enhance surgical capacity, reduce revision surgeries, and expand access to leading-edge tools, including the potential addition of a second robotic system.”

“We were inspired by the hospital’s groundbreaking work in orthopedics, which we know was made possible by donors like the River Philip Foundation, Fred Smithers, and others,” Jennifer Auld, TD Canada Trust vice-president, Atlantic region, said in the release.

“We knew we could help move the needle even further. We are proud to support the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation to help facilitate better outcomes and a better quality of life for patients and their families.”