For Mercy Health – Springfield, local healthcare means faster, better care for local patients. But it also means recruiting new talent from elsewhere who become active members of the community.
“We are of the community, we are in the community, and our providers are the same,” says hospital President Adam Groshans.
A commitment to the community has resulted in expanded hospital departments, new technology and more experts in various fields. That means that local residents often can remain in Springfield for many health issues instead of traveling to Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati or elsewhere – and can be treated by providers who “are embedded into the fabric of the community” they serve, Groshans says.
Not only is local care more convenient for Clark County residents, but it is also safer, says Dr. Joseph Morman, Mercy Health – Springfield’s chief clinical officer. In cases such as strokes and heart attacks, wasted minutes can result in losing heart function.
“I greatly fear that people who visit a standalone emergency room have no idea the delays in care they’re going to encounter when they’re there for a serious illness,” Morman says.
Advances have been made throughout the hospital in a wide range of departments, including cardiovascular care, oncology, orthopedics and obstetrics.
For example, local cardiologists now can place pacemakers and perform angioplasties, and a new procedure can place aortic valves without the need for open heart surgery, Morman says.
“I confidently say we have the best cardiovascular care in our region,” he says.
In oncology, the hospital now collaborates with
Ohio State’s James Cancer Network and has a new radiation oncologist. Recruitment also has continued in the orthopedic department, with experts who specialize in areas including shoulders, joints and the spine.
This summer
Mercy Health – Springfield became the first hospital in the Midwest to offer
new Brainlab technology, which provides minimally invasive spine and brain surgery through a robotics platform.
In women’s health, the OB-GYN program also continues to grow and change, Groshans says. A recent change in procedures means that expectant mothers now can go straight to the labor and delivery department instead of first spending time in the emergency room. The hospital also has launched a midwifery program.
“All of these things are intended to create greater access to care. But in addition to greater access, we’re also enhancing really core service lines, core offerings for the community,” he says.
Improving local access includes enhancements both inside the hospital and throughout the community, Groshans says. Providers have been recruited to work within its walls as well as in outpatient centers, primary care offices and specialty offices.
“We look at health care as a community-wide resource,” he says. “Oftentimes we think of the hospital as a bricks-and-mortar building, but I look at that as people more than I do as bricks and mortar.”
In many cases local care also is available to residents of the Urbana and Enon communities. Many of the surgeons that operate in Springfield also do so at the Urbana campus, Groshans says, and Morman adds that the hospital has plans to bring cancer care to Urbana as well. In addition, a satellite emergency room in Enon has been very popular, with patients often enjoying shorter wait times than at hospital-based emergency rooms.
Local healthcare has benefitted from the hospital’s relationship with Mercy’s corporate system and its leadership, which has allowed the hospital to be “nimble,” Morman says.
Groshans agrees, adding that the progress happening today is a continuation of the work that has been going on in the community for decades. The affiliation, however, enabled Mercy Health – Springfield to make large investments within the community.
Groshans says that some community members have been surprised by the advances the hospital has made, as well as by the new technology. But they also are excited and proud.
Now that local residents can stay within the community for neurological, spine, heart, stroke and other care, Groshans hopes that they will be more likely to stay in the Springfield area for other services. Clark County has excellent resources for therapies, labs and imaging, primary care and follow-up care, he says. Mercy Health – Springfield will continue to create access points for services throughout the community.
“We are very committed to bringing those services close to home and providing care close to home, regardless of our patient’s ability to pay,” Groshans says. “That’s part of our mission.”