Dr. George Myers, a general surgeon at Memorial Hospital and Manor, was the guest speaker at Rotary on Tuesday.

Myers first gave a little background on himself. He was born in Macon, Georgia and attended Georgia Southern University, where he met his wife. He then attended medical school at Georgia ECLM and traveled to Toledo, Ohio to do his surgical training.

Myers explained he chose a career as a general surgeon because it’s hands on and no day is ever the same. He can do anything from a foot bunion to a head lesion.

“My day changes minute by minute,” Myers said. “All it takes is one call from the ER.”

Myers gave some back history on surgery to members, saying that something as simple as an appendectomy was not always that way. Back before it was commonplace, doctors would confirm something was wrong and make patients as comfortable as they could, but ultimately they would be left with no solution.

Years later in France ,trepanation became available, where a physician would drill a burr hole into the skull bone. This is said to be the oldest surgical procedure Myers said.

However, surgeons have come a long way since then.

Myers showed videos of different surgical techniques they have developed such as laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery can be difficult because the tools can be difficult to maneuver and very time consuming to do even the minutest task, Myers said. But, with practice it can be useful for a variety of operations.

Myers did acknowledge that laparoscopic surgery can have a shorter recovery time, but he always gives patients a variety of options because what works for one patient may not work for the other; everyone is different and responds differently to surgery.

Myers hopes to move forward learning robotic surgery, and while it may not be a useful tool for a rural hospital such as Memorial Hospital and Manor he still believes there is technology to gain from it.