Mercy Medical Center Forms New Dedicated Brain, Spine and Neuroscience Network
SPRINGFIELD — Mercy Medical Center announces the formation of a new Brain, Spine and Neuroscience Network, linking a comprehensive range of services and physicians to provide the latest treatment and care.
Patients, families and physicians who enter this network of services will be referred to physicians with expertise in the patient’s specific disorder or condition.
Neurologists, neurosurgeons and orthopedic specialists will all be utilized in consultation to create and monitor the pathway of diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and follow-up care to restore patients to the best quality of life possible.
Complications of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis will be treated by the neurologists affiliated with the Mercy Brain, Spine and Neuroscience Network. Other conditions treated are spasticity, stroke, geriatric conditions, brain aneurysms, brain tumors and brain hemorrhages. Swallowing disorders, movement disorders, even sleep disorders and face pain and spasms are part of the complex sensitive network that involves the brain and nervous system.
Orthopedists, neurologists, spine surgeons and neurosurgeons will help patients with brain and spine problems in non-surgical and surgical treatment of problems, including herniated discs, neck and back problems and spinal stenosis, is a narrowing of spaces in the spine or backbone that results in pressure on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots which can cause pain or numbness in the legs or upper body, depending on the area involved.
And just across the parking lot from Mercy Medical Center, rehabilitation therapists at the 60-bed inpatient and outpatient service, Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital, work with the physicians to ensure patients maximize their care and treatment to achieve the highest quality of life and self-sufficiency possible.
Mercy’s Brain, Spine and Neuroscience Network provides a portal into the neuroscience and neuromedical expertise provided through the physicians, health professionals, surgical teams and advanced technologies at Mercy Medical Center.
Mercy’s neurological experts offer a level of coverage allowing 24/7 coverage by neurosurgeons, said James E. Fanale, M.D., chief operating officer of Mercy Medical Center and chief medical officer for the Sisters of Providence Health System. “At Mercy, the depth of the neurological team allows physicians surety that they and their patients will have expert back-up available, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week,” said Fanale.
Mercy Medical Center has an historical and demonstrated commitment to provide advanced imaging technology for use during the diagnostic process. Mercy provides advanced medical tools and equipment in the surgical suites. Mercy Medical Center recently acquired and installed “neuro-navigator” equipment for its operating room, a device that allows surgeons to pinpoint the lesion or tumor for treatment without damaging surrounding tissue.
What makes Mercy special is that teams of operating room nurses and assistants specialize in neurosurgery, which means that neurosurgeons work repeatedly with the same nurses and operating room team members and are able to rely on their expertise with the tools, conditions and surgeons. “If the doctor is happy and confident in the hospital, its technology and the operating team, than the patient is better off,” said Fanale.
For more information about the Brain, Spine and Neuroscience Network and the services available at Mercy Medical Center for brain, spine and nervous system treatment, call the referral coordinator at 413-748-6802 and/or toll-free 866-306-6802.