BOARDMAN Outpatient orthopedic surgery center to open

The center will speed up scheduling for some outpatient surgeries.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Forum Health, in partnership with two of the Mahoning Valley's largest orthopedic medical practices, will open the new outpatient Orthopaedic Surgery Center later this month at Beeghly Medical Park.
The center occupies 12,000-square-feet on the first floor of Building C at Beeghly, on Market Street in Boardman. Forum is also making plans to relocate its obstetrics department and neonatal baby nursery to the same building from Northside Medical Center, probably sometime next year.
Jo Anne McCliment, a Forum spokeswoman, said the Orthopaedic Surgery Center is unique because it represents a joint venture shared by Youngstown Orthopedic Associates and Boniface Orthopaedics, both based in Boardman, and Forum Health.
Outpatient surgery
Development of the center was driven by the physicians' desire to improve outpatient surgery experiences for their patients, McCliment said.
The primary improvement, from the patients' perspective, is that outpatient procedures will be scheduled more quickly because they won't have to be scheduled around more critical hospital surgery procedures. "They won't have to wait as long to schedule a surgery," she said. "That's a huge advantage."
Second, McCliment said, all supporting staff at the surgery center will be specially trained in orthopedic health care. Orthopedics is the medical specialty devoted to the musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
Some more complex outpatient orthopedic surgeries will still be performed at the Beeghly Park outpatient surgery center in Building B.
What center includes
The new center includes examination rooms, three operating rooms and a pain management room. Construction is complete, McCliment said, but officials can't announce an official opening date until they get final approval from the Ohio Department of Health.
Board-certified orthopedic surgeons staffing the center will include, from Boniface Orthopaedics, Drs. James E., Raymond J. and Thomas S. Boniface.
Also, from Youngstown Orthopedic, Drs. Joseph M. Stefko, James P. Jamison, Thomas A. Joseph, James T. Kerrigan, Paul J. Pagano, Leslie J. Schwendeman and James D. Solmen.
Anesthesiologists on staff there are Drs. Donald Person, Amy Hutchinson, Mark Peckman and Veeraiah Perni.
Youngstown Orthopedic will maintain its offices on Tippecanoe Road, and Boniface Orthopaedics will retain its offices on McKay Court, she said. Doctors at both practices will retain their active staff privileges at both Forum and Humility of Mary Health Partners hospitals in the area.
vinarsky@vindy.com