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Disability doesn’t slow down Magistrate Anthony Sertick
YOUNGSTOWN
Atty. Anthony Sertick Jr., recently named one of two public members to the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics, doesn’t sweat the small stuff.
Nor does Sertick, born 45 years ago with spina bifida, let the birth defect get in the way of what he wants to do.
“I concentrate on my abilities rather than my disabilities,” he said.
Sertick is a husband, father, grandfather and magistrate of Youngstown Municipal Court.
He is a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor in the civil division, and was legal administrator for the county’s Department of Jobs & Family Services, where he supervised the legal and fraud Unit of the JFS Human Service Division and the legal unit of the Child Support Enforcement Division.
He graduated from Austintown Fitch High School in 1984, Youngstown State University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree and received his law degree in 1991 from the University of Akron.
“When I was asked to be on the American Board for Certification, as someone who has been a consumer of orthotics for 35 years, I said I’d be honored,” he said.
Sertick said his job on the national board, which certifies providers and facilities, is to represent and protect the interests of consumers. “What I hope to accomplish is to ensure that consumers get the type of service that meets their needs through competent providers,” he said.
He credits his parents, Anthony Sr. of Las Vegas, and June Hoelzel of Poland, for getting him off on the right foot.
Spina bifida is the most frequently occurring, permanently disabling birth defect. It results from the failure of the spine to close properly during the first month of pregnancy. The condition can cause bowel and bladder complications and hydrocephalus, the accumulation of fluid in the brain.
A doctor told Sertick’s parents he wouldn’t live a week after his birth, but they were strong-willed and said they wanted everything possible done. “Fortunately for me, the prognosis was off the mark,” he said.
Sertick is married to Kara Mullins and has two stepdaughters, Alyssa Mraz of Austintown and Kay Lee Myers of Mineral Ridge, two grandchildren and a sister, Andrea Bosnjak of Poland.
“I’m pretty lucky. I’m ambulatory with crutches and have no mental problems, although my wife might differ with that opinion,” he said with a laugh.
Sertick golfs regularly and played competitive wheelchair basketball for about 20 years in the Keystone Conference.
“There’s not a whole lot my disability keeps me from doing. One of my strengths is that I adapt well, and I don’t allow my disability to keep me from doing what I want to do,” he said.
But, his enthusiasm has caused him problems from time to time.
He said he was so active as a child that his braces kept getting bent. A local orthotist, Bill DeToro, crafted braces for his braces in the form of rods on both sides to strengthen them. DeToro also nominated Sertick for membership on the national board.
In a wheelchair basketball game, he tried to keep the ball from going out of bounds. “There was a door I thought was locked, but when I put my hands out to stop myself, I found it wasn’t locked,” and he flew through it and did a somersault, he said.
Sertick also serves the local community as a member of the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Goodwill Industries, and the Hine Memorial. He also is a longtime member of the Tri-County Spina Bifida Association.
Asked how he gets past the bad times, he said “a positive attitude and parents who pushed me to fulfill whatever potential I had. You have to adapt to your surroundings and work with the cards you’re dealt.”