43
Southwoods celebrates 20 years with a concert for the Valley
By Kalea Hall
BOARDMAN
Every Sunday, Ed Muransky reads the Surgical Hospital at Southwoods patient reviews.
In those, he learns that Southwoods patients are more like fans.
“The word I always hear from our people is compassion and they are impressed with our cleanliness,” the Southwoods CEO said.
Now, it’s time to celebrate 20 years of compassionate care from Southwoods.
“We wanted to give back a little bit,” Muransky said.
That means bringing in Lionel Richie on Aug. 27 for the first Southwoods Concert for the Valley.
About seven months ago, Muransky went to Eric Ryan, executive director of the Covelli Centre, and pitched the idea of a big-name concert.
“Eric thought I was crazy,” Muransky said.
Ryan may have thought that, but he also knew Muransky is a dreamer who dreams big – as Ryan does – so he was in.
Ryan’s company, Eric Ryan Productions, the Covelli Centre and Southwoods joined to make the concert happen in a short time frame.
“We have talked so many times about doing something special,” Ryan said. “The partnership and what we are doing here would not be [possible] without the help of Southwoods.”
Richie has sold 100 million albums worldwide and has four Grammy awards. The R&B singer is on his “All the Hits” tour in Europe and will return to the U.S. – appearing first in Youngstown and then performing multiple shows in Las Vegas. His list of hits include “All Night Long” and “Hello” from 1983; and “Dancing on the Ceiling” from 1986, as well as hits from his time with the Commodores.
“We wanted it to be a fun, festive night,” Muransky said.
Southwoods, 7630 Southern Blvd., also will make donations to area organizations the night of the concert to celebrate the Mahoning Valley’s support of Southwoods.
Southwoods started as just an idea in 1994. Dr. Louis Lyras, Muransky’s best friend, wanted to see a new hospital open to increase efficiency and decrease waiting time for patients and physicians.
Dr. Lyras asked his friend in real estate to consider building and opening a hospital. Two years later, the hospital opened with a goal of changing outpatient services. The first surgery was done June 10, 1996.
“I really had no medical experience,” Muransky said.
But Muransky does know business. He realized the same secrets of running a successful business also could be used in health care.
“I thought health care could be different,” Muransky said.
Southwoods grew from a hospital with a focus on outpatient services to offering inpatient services and adding advanced imaging services.
In 2014 and 2015, Southwoods was rated the No. 1 hospital for inpatient experience in Ohio by Press Ganey Associates. Press Ganey is a provider of patient experience measurement, performance analytics and strategic advisory solutions for health care organizations across the continuum of care, according to the Press Ganey website.
Today, Southwoods has grown from an ambulatory surgery center to an acute-care hospital with multiple imaging centers, sleep centers and physician-services locations.
In April 2014, Southwoods opened a new X-ray center at 7623 Market St. The multimillion-dollar facility has two 3T (Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging scanners, a fixed-location positron emission tomography scanner and a 64-slice CT (computed tomography) scanner.
Southwoods also features a women’s health suite with a nurse-navigator to streamline the process and expedite follow-up care.
Last year, Southwoods performed more than 60,000 patient procedures and expects to do about the same this year.
It has gone from 50 employees to 500.
“I am succeeding if my troops are driving to work every day and happy to do it,” Muransky said.
In 20 years time, Muransky has continued to notice the need for health care here in the Valley.
He believes students graduating from local educational institutions don’t have to go out of the area for health care jobs, and people don’t have to go elsewhere to receive the health care they want.
“I really feel if Southwoods didn’t exist, our health care would go elsewhere,” Muransky said.
The future is one of growth in the Valley for Southwoods.
“I don’t really know what’s on our horizon,” Muransky said.
He does know he wants to bring a concert to the Valley every year.
“We wanted to bring an artist that had a catalog of hits that would entertain people,” Ryan said. “This show will be a night of hits and night of fun.”