MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Amanda Brown-Olmstead or
Courtney Carney
A. Brown-Olmstead Associates
404-659-0919
Covidien’s Tour Brings Ground-Breaking Surgical Procedures to Northside Hospital
Scarless surgery introduced to surgeons, residents, nurses and medical students
Atlanta, GA—Covidien, a leading global healthcare products company that creates innovative medical solutions, will offer a hands-on experience for media professionals as it trains surgeons, residents and staff on Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) with its pioneering products and procedures when the company brings its mobile training center to Northside Hospital on June 17-18.
Fifteen-year-old medicalprodigy Tony Hansberry, whoperfected his SILS technique in 2009 during a two-day session through the University of Florida, will be on hand Thursday, June 17, to demonstrate his innovation. His method simplifies the closure stitching after a hysterectomy and reduces the risk of complications that sometimes arise after a hysterectomy. Other procedures to be demonstrated during the training sessions in the mobile center will include gall bladder removal, cyst/tumor removal, Splenectomy, Lap-Band® Surgery, and numerous other gastro surgeries.
Journalists and photographers can join Hansberry’s friends and classmates Adam Olsen and Zoe Sieber as they observe surgeonson Thursday or up to noon on Friday in the 85-foot tractor-trailer’s state-of-the-art operating rooms. The students and doctors who visit the mobile center willlearn the latest post-surgical stitching techniques with Covidien’s specially designed instruments that make it possible. Olsen and Sieber both have mastered the endostitch, which surgeons use to repair the patient’s abdominal area after a hysterectomy, but will further refine their technique with their classmate’s single-incision method.
Following in Hansberry’s footsteps, Sieber won a regional science fair award for “Using Elaborative Presentation to Improve Medical Information Retention.”This project demonstrated the use of video games to show children how and when to take their prescriptions.
Sieber personifies the commitment Covidien holds to increasing the number of women in specialty practices by offering training and other support to women in medicine. The innovative laparoscopic techniques to be demonstrated in the Covidien mobile training center proportionally benefit more women than men, primarily because of their utility in hysterectomies. The techniques that media can observe during the training sessions in the mobile center’s state-of-the-art operating rooms help make these internal surgeries safer and recovery faster with less scarring.
Now, in the 10th grade, Hansberry, Sieber and Olsen’s skills are being compared to some first-year residents. These students currently attend the first magnet school for medicine in the country Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School in Jacksonville, Florida.
Northside surgeons Dr. Ceana Nezhat and Dr. John Daly, who have used SILS also will be available for interviews at the site.
WHO:Covidien—Leading global healthcare products company
WHAT:85-foot tractor-trailer with state-of-the-art operating rooms to demonstrate and train surgeons, residents, nurses, and medical students on Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) using Covidien’s products
WHERE:Northside Hospital (1000 Johnson Ferry Rd., Atlanta, GA 30342)
WHEN: All day June 17th and until noon on June 18th, 2010
For more information on scheduling an interview, please contact Courtney Carney at or 404.659.0919
About Covidien
Covidien is a leading global healthcare products company that creates innovative medical solutions for better patient outcomes and delivers value through clinical leadership and excellence.Covidien manufactures, distributes and services a diverse range of industry-leading product lines in four segments: Medical Devices, Imaging Solutions, Pharmaceutical Products and Medical Supplies.With 2007 revenue of nearly $9 billion, Covidien has more than 42,000 employees worldwide in 57 countries, and its products are sold in over 130 countries.To learn more, please visit
About Northside Hospital
The Northside Hospital health care delivery system is a not-for-profit health care provider and has served north Metro Atlanta for 40 years. With more than 2,000 physicians and 6,000 employees, the hospital sees nearly 700,000 patient visits a year. Staffs provide a full range of health care services, including women’s health, cancer care, emergency care, surgery, specialty medicine and a wide array of outpatient services at many locations. Northside Hospital offers high-quality health care at Northside Hospital-Atlanta in Sandy Springs, Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton and Northside Hospital-Forsyth in Cumming.