The oldest hospital in Sherman welcomed the community into what will be a new start for the newly named American Healthcare Systems at Sherman Medical Center. The former Wilson N. Jones Hospital unveiled its new AHS Sherman Medical Center signage and met with local leaders and members of the community last week to share future plans for the hospital and the services soon to call the site home.

The changes to Sherman Medical Center signage are minute in comparison to the internal changes that have already been set into motion to push the hospital into a modern and progressive health facility.

“We are looking for physicians that work in super specialties: cardiology, neurology, orthopedics that work with robotics because that is the next generation of treatments,” Emergency Room Doctor James Frame said this week. “We want to take advantage of all of that so we can provide the care that the people of Sherman deserve. They deserve the highest quality of care. It took a system like American Health Systems to do this.”

Already on site, the hospital recently acquired a dialysis machine for inpatient use. What is special about this, Frame said, is the continuous renal replacement therapy that comes with it.

“Say someone comes in with congestive heart failure or pneumonia, maybe chest pain, or any type of abdominal complaints, we can do the dialysis as we are investigating the other complaint,” Frame said. “That is the beauty of this machine. We can do our cardiac workups, stroke workups, and even patients who come in sick with internal medicine issues like diabetes, pneumonia and congestive heart failure being the big three, can receive this care. The benefits or the added advantage is that this machine offers CRRT.”

According to the National Institute of Health, continuous renal replacement therapy is the type of renal support given to the most critically ill patients with acute kidney injury.

“For instance, if you have a patient that comes in for dialysis and they sit in the chair,” he said. “It takes about four hours to exchange all the electrolytes and get all the bad stuff out and such. There are some patients who go to the intensive care unit who cannot withstand the sudden four-hour exchange of fluid. Subsequently, this machine is able to do a 24 hour slow but steady dialysis which is the CRRT.”

What is also unique about this type of dialysis machine is the kidney doctor working with the patient can get real-time information about how the patient’s blood work.

“What we find is the biggest advantage is that it automatically analyzes the blood and sends it to the nephrologist, the kidney specialist managing the dialysis,” Frame said. “He can look at his computer screen wherever he is. Say he is at the office or at home, he can pull up that patient and look at their current lab values and change the settings remotely from his computer screen. Or, he can leave an order with the nurses through a specific tele messaging with that machine saying they would like to change to this medication or fluid and we are going to take him off of the other fluid. So, these are special nurses in this unit can handle this with the quality control and that kind of thing.”

Another change soon to come to Sherman Medical Center is an advanced type of robotic surgery through the use of the da Vinci 5.

“Imagine the size of a surgeon’s hands and trying to get inside a space and trying to do some revisions inside the body or sewing up area that may be torn or removing bad gallbladders/ appendixes,” Frame said. “Those are surgeries we can perform, but then, there are tight spaces that you cannot get into with your hands. Surgery is lifesaving, but there are still certain surgeries we cannot do because we cannot reach certain areas of the body confidently without hurting the patient. When it comes to major surgery, the recovery time is a lot longer. The healing time is a lot longer. The complication rate increases, and the incision is huge. The recovery time, since you are under anesthesia for a longer time, will also be longer.

But, with the da Vinci 5, surgeons are able to go places that they were not able to go before.

“We fast forward to 2024 here at Sherman Medical Center and we are in the process of acquiring the da Vinci 5 machine which is the most advanced machine in the Dallas area,” Frame said. “You will find this machine at UT Southwestern, but that is it. We are the second place in the area to have the Davinci 5. This is an advanced generation model.”

One of the advantages of this machine is the 3D visualization.

“It is a tendril that is thread like that you can put into a small hole using a large needle,” Frame said. “Its visual capabilities and advanced resolution can allow us to see things down 100 times. The magnification is incredible. Subsequently, you can remove microsections of orgs and not take out too much of the org.

It is so small it can fit inside of a pencil yet it still has a lot of grabbing power/pressure.”

And just like the new dialysis machine at the hospital, the da Vinci 5 has remote capabilities.

“If you have a super specialist like a cardiovascular specialist that practices down in downtown Houston at an advanced clinic, you can call them in for a consult over the module,” Frame said. “The module calls them in and that physician can help us with that particular part of the procedure by using remote capabilities of the da Vinci 5. That is why it is such an advanced piece of machinery.

“The possibilities are endless,” he said.

And heading into the fall, Sherman Medical Center is preparing for a special place for women.

“There will be bone density screenings, diagnostics, biopsies,” Hope Baxter said. “We are excited to make this women’s center like a destination women’s center. We want it to be a place people want to go to. We know that going into a women’s center is cold. It is just uncomfortable. We are trying to do this a little differently. We want this to be a place that women want to go. We want to make sure the atmosphere is warm. The staff and team members are going to be topnotch, caring and willing to discuss anything with you.”

Along with the changes will also come new opportunities for health care professionals as the hospital is actively recruiting for those working in super specialties including cardiology, neurology and orthopedics.