44 Erie County Medical Center 1978-Present A tradition of surgical excellence. In the 1930s, the hospital received the approval of the American College of Surgeons to conduct graduate training in surgery and surgical specialties, the only institution in Buffalo and one of only five outside of New York City to be so recognized. The work of Dr. John D. Stewart as chief of surgery in the early years of Meyer Memorial brought the hospital’s surgical skill and training to another level of excellence which has continued at ECMC to the present day. The medical center opened its new Minimally Invasive Surgery Center in 2003, the first and most technologically advanced adult surgical suite in the region. Here, advanced video technology lets surgeons performproceduresthroughsmallincisions,withminimalscarringandfewercomplications. ECMC surgeons perform more than 7,000 surgeries each year, from general surgeries to complex neurosurgery to plastic and reconstructive surgery to bariatric, thoracic, and elective surgeries. In addition, the Department of Surgery conducts four surgical clinics each week for post-op patients of general surgery, specialized surgery, and trauma referrals. Going digital. 2003 was also the year that the EEG/EMG Department moved into the digital age and said goodbye to piles of paper with two new digital EEG machines. The DVDsareeasiertostoreandrecordscanbeaccessedquickly.EEG(electroencephalography) provides a diagnostic study of the brain while EMG (electromyography) enables the study of the muscle and nerves. Also in that year, the patient care system was enhanced with the installation of the private wireless local area network (WLAN) which included deploying 114 medical carts (mobile computing systems), installing 358 personal computers, expanding remote access capabilities for physicians, and establishing an interface for heart monitor data into the electronic medical record system. The minimally invasive surgical suite was also digitally interconnected while technical assessments were conducted for digital archiving, digital imaging for radiologic scans and electronic medical record communication. In 2006, the hospital installed an advanced web-based digital imaging system enabling radiologists and physicians to quickly access x-rays and images on diagnostic workstations or personal computers from any location. The switch from film- based images to PACS (picture archiving and communications system) brought enormous savings from eliminating the cost of both film and processing. Photo courtesy Ron Moscati. The multi-slice scanner provides photo-like anatomically detailed images in seconds for more effective diagnosis and treatment. Photo courtesy Wagoner Photography.