After years of planning and fundraising, a new pelvic health suite has opened at Dartmouth General Hospital, bringing some urology and gynecology procedures under one roof in the hopes of reducing wait times and improving efficiency.
The Deanne Reeve Pelvic Health Suite is the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada and will provide a dedicated space to carry out certain procedures currently being performed in operating rooms, freeing up space for more complex surgeries.
“It makes perfect sense to move appropriate procedures out of the operating room, out of other areas to optimize scarce resources and create efficiency,” said Dr. Scott Mawdsley, site chief for surgery at the Dartmouth General Hospital.
“Plus, it’s a much better experience for the patient.”
Hysteroscopies, a minimally invasive procedure to examine the uterus with a thin camera, will be performed inside the suite two days a week. Cystoscopies, a procedure to examine the bladder and urethra with a flexible camera, will be conducted three days a week.
Mawdsley said the hysteroscopy space and state-of-the-art equipment allows for the patient to follow along as the procedure happens. Nurses are trained in procedural sedation, meaning the patient can be made comfortable but still remain conscious so they can observe the inside of their uterus in real time.
Common symptoms that would bring a patient into the clinic for a hysteroscopy include abnormal bleeding, fibroids and polyps.
“Often as you’re doing the procedure, you can explain to the patient what you’re seeing, what the problem is. If you see something of significance, you can biopsy it or often treat it at the same time, which is really important,” said Mawdsley during a media tour of the new clinic.
“So for the patient, it means they can come into an ambulatory clinic appointment and often be diagnosed and treated the same day versus what currently happens — it can be a week-long or month-long process with a lot of anxiety involved.”
Maggie Archibald is someone who knows about that anxiety.
She was misdiagnosed with a urinary tract infection by a walk-in clinic doctor in 2020 before eventually winding up at the Dartmouth hospital, where they confirmed through an ultrasound that she had a kidney stone.
She’s endured wait times in dealing with her health issues.
“I think that comes with our health-care system, unfortunately,” said Archibald. “So this suite is going be life-changing for so many men, women and gender-diverse people who are experiencing issues with their pelvic health.”
Dr. Jon Duplisea was the doctor that removed Archibald’s kidney stone. He said the pelvic health suite dramatically increases the space he has to work, improving the quality of care and allowing the hospital to attract new urologists.
He said they used to perform roughly 80 cystoscopies per month, but now have a capacity to carry out up 75 per week.
“The amount of people that we scope is going to increase significantly, which means that we can get to people faster on the waitlist,” said Duplisea.
Mawdsley said Nova Scotia Health’s so-called Innovation Hub — a research centre that aims to modernize and improve health care in the province — will be studying the suite’s success and whether similar hybrid clinics should be set up at hospitals around the province.
The suite was largely funded through donations. The Orchid Gala, a fundraising group focused on women’s health, raised $250,000, which was matched by Halifax businessman Rob Steele for a total of $500,000.
There were also donations of medical equipment and funding through the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation. Ongoing operating costs are being funded by the province.
The suite bears the name of Deanne Reeve, who died of cervical cancer in 2020 at the age of 60.
Orchid Gala co-founder Liz Rigney was Reeve’s friend of 30 years. She said the suite is more than two years in the making, and she and co-founder Sheri Morgan have made it their mission to improve access to health care for women through fundraising initiatives.
“We have found that no one is talking about women’s health. No one is talking about conditions women suffer from. People are afraid to say the V word — vagina,” said Rigney.
“We’re saying, let’s stop that. Let’s make the conversation in our homes and in the public and let’s make some change and let both men and women realize they have a role to play in ensuring women get the best care possible.”
Reeve would have been sheepish about her portrait greeting patients outside the pelvic health clinic, Rigney remarked.
“She was not that person. She spent her life bringing others up and helping others get to their potential,” she said.
“It’s kind of fitting now that we are doing all we can to help show the world what a great person she was.”
