AS A HEART PATIENT, WILLIAM NEEDED EXPERTS THAT ENSURED HIS SPINE SURGERY WAS WORTH THE RISK.

Anytime you lie down for surgery, you need to have trust in the people working above you. You wouldn’t have trouble convincing William Courser about the power of trust. When he realized his spinal condition was forcing him to teach his lessons at Stark State University from a chair, the anatomy professor needed to find advice he could trust—and clear advice looked like it could be hard to find.

One physician group looked at his MRI and told him they could do little for him, but if something were not done soon, he would never walk again. At the same time, Courser’s cardiologist was concerned about the risk of surgery. In addition to a past spinal surgery, Courser already had two heart attacks and open-heart surgery under his belt. The consensus from his doctors was that Courser should seek out Dr. Louis Keppler and his team at the Spine and Orthopedic Institute at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.

Even in the moments just before he met Dr. Keppler, Courser saw trust in St. Vincent Charity. "Patients were saying great things," Courser says. "One couple came all the way from Toledo."

For Dr. Keppler’s part he too found Courser’s situation challenging. 

“It was difficult because of his previous surgery there were all sorts of scars around the nerves, so we had to separate the nerves from the scars and then remove the bone, so that we could create a hinge to straighten him out," explains Dr. Keppler.

Dr. Keppler had an answer to the challenge that gave him satisfaction. Using a technique that his mentor Dr. Art Steffee had pioneered at St. Vincent Charity decades ago, Courser emerged from the procedure with excellent results. 

"As soon as I woke up from the anesthesia, the pain in my legs was gone.” 

Where walking was once a question, it is now part of his rehabilitation program and Dr. Keppler sees Courser as just the latest example of how many more of his patients are finding orthopedic solutions to extend their quality of life well into their golden years.

“68 is young now," Keppler says. "We're doing spinal reconstruction on people in their 80s because they want to stay active."

ST. VINCENT CHARITY MEDICAL CENTER CEO: “WHO KNOWS WHAT THIS WILL BRING. BUT WE’LL BE READY.”

Regardless of your political persuasion, it’s an honor for a city to be chosen as the launch pad for a presidential campaign. In choosing Cleveland for the 2016 Republican National Convention, it meant that organizers had to trust the city’s infrastructure, capabilities, hospitality and people. 

As the already dynamic 2016 election unfolds, one thing is for certain—there will be more eyes on Cleveland than can be recently remembered. By the time you read these words, there is already speculation that the GOP’s candidate may be chosen via a brokered convention at the Quicken Loans Arena—a historical phenomenon that last occurred in 1952, when the Democrats elected Adlai Stevenson at their own heated convention.

St. Vincent Charity CEO Dr. David Perse recognizes the trust that so many have placed in our city to host this pivotal event—and for Dr. Perse, that trust means getting ready now.

“We’re just trying to be prepared for whatever comes,” Dr. Perse said.

Dr. Perse notes that St. Vincent Charity may have more of a test, as the downtown medical center is the closest facility to the heart of convention events.

In this era of tightened security, Dr. Perse and his team have to plan to be ready for catastrophic events but also for more routine services that come with an influx of thousands to the city. This means everything from heart attacks to asthma treatments.

For his part, Dr. Perse believes being ready starts with ensuring you have a full team standing by.

“We have already given notice to our employees that during the week of the convention, we're suspending our paid time off scheduling during that period."

Dr. Perse and the extended team at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center are proud of our city—and for whatever the occasion, we will be ready to do our part to show the world why.

ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS TRIED TO IGNORE THE WOUND ON THE BOTTOM OF HIS RIGHT FOOT. FOR SIX MONTHS.

“When you’re a professional athlete, you have access to the best medical care every day,’’ said the beloved former Cleveland Cavaliers center. “When you’re retired, you’re kind of on your own. I figured it would heal.’’

Sometimes even a little nagging can be annoying. But Ilgauskas was fortunate that the naggers-in-chief were his caring wife Jennifer and a neighbor who just happened to be Dr. Louis Keppler, who knew a little bit about foot pain as the Co-director of The Spine and Orthopedic Institute at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.

Ilgauskas gave in just in time. An MRI showed he had developed a serious infection.

Dr. Michael Canales, a foot and ankle surgeon at the institute, performed surgery immediately to flush out the infection for the Cleveland sports legend.
 
With the number of surgical interventions Ilgauskas had endured during his NBA career, there was also nerve damage. Following successful surgery, the aggressive treatment continued five times a week with hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
 
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center opened Cleveland’s first Hyperbaric Medical Center in 1993. The chambers deliver 100 percent oxygen to the body, encouraging the development of new capillaries that transfer blood and oxygen to damaged tissues, promoting healing of wounds and improving infection control.
 
Though Ilgauskas, a two-time All-Star who had five surgeries on his feet at the beginning of his 13-year NBA career, said he had never been in a hyperbaric treatment chamber.
 
“The doctors and staff were unbelievably professional and helpful throughout the whole process. They made it as easy as possible for me to get in and out. I can’t say enough about them, from start to finish.
  
In one of many acts of class in their service to our community, the Ilgauskas family recently made a generous donation to the St. Vincent Charity Development Foundation. The funds will be used to help implement the hospital’s five-year strategic plan to renovate and expand facilities in an effort to further enhance patient care. The 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas says he’s nearly 100 percent recovered and ready to take on his new position as a volunteer basketball coach for Saint Ignatius High School. Thanks to his wife and two caring doctors, he will not be lugging his nearly six-foot crutches to practice.

If you know someone who is putting off getting the advice of a medical expert, don’t be afraid to speak up and point the way—more often than not, they’ll be thankful you were looking out for them.

FOUNDATION’S GIFT RECOGNIZES ST. VINCENT CHARITY MEDICAL CENTER’S LEADERSHIP IN MENTAL HEALTH.

The Cleveland Foundation recently announced a gift of $125,000 to invest in building St. Vincent Charity’s Behavioral Health services into a Center of Excellence. This strategic plan allows our hospital to deliver a full continuum of comprehensive adult psychiatric services. 

As the CEO of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, Dr. David Perse feels that this initiative builds on momentum that his organization has already established and also helps ensure that the future behavioral needs of the greater Cleveland community are met.

“We are blessed at St. Vincent Charity with one of the best behavioral health programs in the country,” said Perse. 

“With one of only six psychiatric emergency departments in the United States, we draw from hospitals and law enforcement throughout the region. These funds will help us meet the growing need for mental health services in our community caused, in part, by the alarming rise of heroin and synthetic drug use at a time when mental health beds are in short supply.”

The Cleveland Foundation funds will be used for:

• Expansion of the Crisis Intervention Specialist in the Psychiatric Emergency Department (PED). St. Vincent Charity partners with FrontLine Service, Inc. to provide treatment planning and coordination of care. Awarded funds now allow St. Vincent Charity to expand coverage to include evenings and weekends by adding an additional full-time Crisis Intervention Specialist from FrontLine Services.

• Hiring a board-certified Art Therapist and Music Therapist as part of the Creative Arts Therapy Program. The Art and Music Therapists will work with the inpatient geropsych, general adult psychiatric inpatients, partial hospitalization program participants, Rosary Hall’s detox unit and Intensive Outpatient Program.

• Rosary Hall Recovery Coach Expansion. This will help ensure a Recovery Coach is on the floor 24 hours. These additional hours will help reduce the number of individuals leaving detoxification against medical advice and contribute to region-wide efforts to reduce the impact of chemical dependency.