Portage will host a “Meet the Robot” event from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at its main campus in Hancock, where visitors can see the da Vinci robot and talk with the medical staff who operate it. As part of the open house, people will also get to try the robot out for themselves.

Evon Schexnaydre, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Portage and the Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center, was an advocate for getting the system. Schexnaydre, who came to the area in January, has been using it since 2011 in Rhinelander and downstate in the Muskegon/Grand Haven area. Lifepoint Health, which owns UPHS — Portage, made a $2 million investment in the system. 

“I thought it would be a good surgical tool, and the hospital was very receptive to it,” Schexnaydre said. 

The robotic system is being offered for a range of abdominal and gynecological surgeries, including hysterectomy, treatment of endometriosis and uterine fibroids, gallbladder removal, appendix removal and hernia repair. 

Evon Schexnaydre, an obstetrician and gynecologist with UP Health System — Portage and the Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center, poses with the hospital’s new robotic-assisted surgical system on Sept. 13, the day of its first surgery locally. Portage will hold an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. where visitors can see and test out the new robot. (Photo provided by UPHS—Portage)

A trained surgeon sits at a console to operate the robot, which can perform more precise surgeries by making smaller incisions and needing fewer movements. 

It allows doctors to treat endometriosis while causing less pain, Schexnaydre said. The end of the robot’s arm also articulates like a hand, which reduces damage by not tugging as much on skin.

“Patients typically go home the same day,” she said. “That’s less cost to the patients, which is huge with medical costs nowadays.”

The first surgery locally was performed on Sept. 13. On Thursday, Schexnaydre performed the eighth one, a hysterectomy. 

She said the surgeries with the local team have gone well.

“They’re great,” she said. “They want to learn, which is refreshing. They have gone and done the training. We have corporate reps coming with different types of equipment they can use.”

General surgery will also start doing robotics too, Schexnaydre said. 

“Everybody’s really embraced it,” she said. “The patients are excited about it too. They don’t have to drive three-four hours to get a procedure done robotically.”

At Wednesday’s open house, Schexnaydre and other staff will be there. People will be able to play games with the robot to test how it works. 

Visitors can also ask questions about whether they’d be a good candidate for the robotic procedure. Physical fitness and good pulmonary condition help. It might not be as good a fit for someone who has undergone many procedures or who had a transplant, Schexnaydre said. 

Probably about 80% of the patients Schexnaydre sees would be able to have their surgeries performed robotically, she said. 

Most young doctors coming into surgical positions now want robotics available, Schexnaydre said. Another gynecologist is already coming to the area specifically because the hospital offers the procedure. 

“It’s a great recruiting tool for the community here, so we can get other providers who are doing state-of-the-art procedures,” she said.