Hysterectomy in Ill. described live on Twitter

ELGIN, Ill. -- The social networking site Twitter allows people to send posts back and forth with answers to the question, "What are you doing?"

One recent morning, as many as 1,000 people were online with the site following along as a hysterectomy was being performed at Sherman Hospital.

Providing the "tweets" were Walter Ottenhoff, who texted in answers to submitted questions, and Marc Battaglia, who sent out video and photo links. The duo work for Demi &Cooper, an Elgin-based advertising and marketing firm, and from 7 until about 11 a.m. provided 369 updates, most of them directly from the OR.

According to Michelle Howe, marketing specialist at Sherman, this type of surgery was the first for any hospital in Illinois and the first time a surgery anywhere had been offered as a simulcast on Twitter and Facebook.

A 48-year-old Lake in the Hills woman who wished to remain anonymous agreed to let people post about her procedure, a laparoscopic hysterectomy and removal of ovaries, due to heavy bleeding, severe cramps and fibroids.

"She was excited to do this and joked that she wished she could stay awake. She wants to see the posts," Howe said.

Part of the reason for putting the surgery online was to make people more knowledgeable and comfortable with such procedures, said Howe. Another is to build the Sherman brand.

"In January, when we did the live Twitter Tour of the new hospital, we started with 174 followers and added 193 to get to 367. The day of the tour we jumped around 40 followers, around 80 the following day, and a steady stream thereafter. We now gain around 5 to 10 a day, and we're up to more than 700 followers, and we are hoping to attract more with this," Howe said.

"I hope the community gets something out of this," Chatterji said.

If you couldn't follow things live, those still wishing to see the information can visit the website, www.twitter.com/shermanhealth.

-- The Courier-News