Thanks to the tremendous weekend efforts of UNC Anesthesiology’s Anesthesia Tech (ATT) team, first cases slated for Monday, August 26th, at the newly opened North Carolina Surgical Hospital got underway as scheduled! Pulling off a three-day job in less than two days, the department’s ATT team began Thursday evening executing thoughtfully planned relocation and placement of equipment and technology from UNC Medical Center to peri-operative & OR suites across the seven-story, 375,000 square-foot NC Surgical Hospital tower. The non-stop efforts permitted a first-day run of 8 ORs, with expansion to 26 full-capacity ORs in the new tower floor by mid-week.  

Associate Professor and Medical Director of UNC Medical Center’s Anesthesiology Support Services Dr. Sam Blacker offered many words of praise for all on the department’s ATT team who participated in the transition to the Surgical Hospital. Dr. Blacker noted:

“All the techs knew exactly what needed to be done for this move and how each piece of the puzzle fit together. Coordination with other hospital services went very smooth and enabled a seamless move of anesthesia care to the Surgical Hospital. Watching the team get everything moved and sorted, one would think that we move stuff to a new building on a regular basis.

Among the many to recognize, we applaud Anesthesia Tech Manager Corine Thompson for the tremendous leadership she showed throughout this whole effort. Corine meticulously planned each step of the move and choreographed it like a complex ballet. We thank the whole team for showing leadership and for going above and beyond expectations who invested the efforts that enable UNC Health to begin clinical operations providing surgical care at this new state-of-the-art hospital.”