When Scott Ingledue learned that he needed to have hernia repair surgery, he knew right away that he would choose Dr. Steven Kelly of Aultman General Surgery as his surgeon.

Five years ago, Scott’s wife Ida had been diagnosed with a health condition that required surgery. As a member of the Aultman Alliance Community Hospital (AACH) board of trustees for 36 years – and board chairman for 28 of those years – Scott has developed many friendships in the local healthcare community.

“When Ida got sick, I asked my friends which surgeon she should see. Everyone told me that Dr. Kelly was one of the best,” Scott said. “He performed two surgeries for Ida, and we were very pleased. She loves him because he truly cares about his patients.”

When Scott was later diagnosed with a hernia after experiencing discomfort in his abdomen, he made an appointment with Dr. Kelly to discuss surgery at Aultman Hospital. Dr. Kelly explained that the outpatient hernia repair surgery would be robot-assisted.

Robot-assisted surgery is performed by a surgeon, not a robot. Using a da Vinci robot, the surgeon makes a few small incisions with long, thin instruments and a tiny camera. The camera sends images to a video monitor in the operating room to guide the surgeon during the operation.

Advantages of robot-assisted surgery include smaller incisions, shorter hospital stays, quicker recovery times, less scarring and reduced pain.

After the surgery, Scott was astonished at how small the incisions were and how quickly he recovered. “I was relatively back to normal within two weeks,” he said.

As chairman of the Alliance Community Health Foundation, Scott was determined to help AACH purchase a da Vinci robot so that Alliance community members would have access to such high-quality surgical care closer to home.

A resident of Homeworth, Scott has a longtime history of community service in the Alliance area. He used his connections to help the Alliance Community Health Foundation raise funds for AACH’s purchase of a da Vinci robot. The first da Vinci robot-assisted surgery was performed at AACH in fall 2024.

Today, Scott and Ida are looking forward to more happy times with their family. They’ve been married for 56 years, with two children and four grandchildren. Ida divides her time between Ohio and Florida so that she can spend time with her grandchildren who live there, and Scott joins her in Florida as often as he can.

They are grateful to Dr. Kelly and robot-assisted surgery for helping to restore their health. “I entrusted the dearest person in my life to Dr. Kelly,” Scott said. “From the moment we walked into Dr. Kelly’s office, we felt that we were treated like family.”