It’s been more than a decade, but one man with the persistence to build a nationally recognized cardiac center is now seeing that dream come to fruition.
MedCentral Health System’s 4.5 million investment in buildings and equipment and a merger with OhioHealth should only serve to enhance the already stellar MedCentral’s cardiac surgery and coronary intervention programs and benefit the community of Mansfield and surrounding regions.
The newest addition to Dr. David A. Brown’s private practice, and MedCentral, Dr. Wilfredo Crespo, brings the final key needed to serve the community as originally intended.
When Brown stepped foot on Mansfield soil, he was already a catch for the region’s health care. By way of general surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University and cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, Brown then built a considerable reputation at Ohio State University, growing a cardiac program that was ranked first among an association of academic heart centers due in large part to Brown’s results.
OSU had the desire to develop a funnel of cardiac patients in the region to the Columbus office, adding to its standing.
“The reason I came was because economic growth was pretty rapid in [Mansfield’s] housing sector [in 2002],” Brown said. “With the growth of [the OSU] program and with the growth of Columbus northward, this area would become a bedroom community for commuters and this would be a major hub. We projected at that time based on population and other factors that we would be doing about 500 hearts a year. That would be enough to support three heart surgeons. And I wanted to get in on the ground floor of that.”
The economic downturn foiled these intentions, but Brown was not dissuaded. He remained committed to Mansfield, set up his own practice, and concentrated on doing the quality work he is known for.
Another must-have component for the cardiac program to compete with the programs Cleveland Clinic and Columbus, regional unity is served by with the merger with OhioHealth, who holds affiliations with hospitals in Mt. Gilead and Marion, effectively decreasing the competition with hospitals that would send patients an hour north or south, instead of to MedCentral, which was located in their backyards.
“OhioHealth will not only legitimize the program, but it would really be nice to get up to about 500 hearts a year, which would put us in pretty rarified numbers,” said Brown. “The average heart surgeon only does about 140 hearts a year…we really need to double our size to match the cache that Cleveland Clinic, Riverside or OhioHealth has,” in spite of MedCentral’s existing rankings in Ohio as number one for cardiac surgery and among the top five percent for cardiac surgery nationally.
Brown believes that the recent addition of Crespo is coup for the people of Mansfield, who will “finally get the medical care they deserve,” Brown said, without having to drive more than an hour away.
Crespo brings to the table a background that includes cardiovascular and thoracic surgery residency at Montefiore Medical Center – Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, Clinical Assistance Professorship at Michigan State University, East Lansing, and cardiothoracic surgery at McLaren Greater Lansing Medical Center. In addition, he specializes in lung surgery, a skill that has been largely absent from the region’s health system since the recent debilitating illness and passing of Brown’s former colleague, Dr. Fraser Keith.
“I am very interested in picking up all that patient population, mostly lung and thoracic oncology surgery, and to help Dr. Brown expand the heart program too,” Crespo said. “We are the only office that does lung surgery between Cleveland and Columbus.”
Brown agrees that Crespo’s skills have been sorely missed.
“One of the things Will brings to program is lung surgery. It’s been 20 years that I haven’t done any lung surgery, so with Dr. Keith gone for the past two years, not doing any surgery, we haven’t had any lung surgeons here in Mansfield,” Brown said. [Crespo’s arrival] is going to be huge boon to the community.”
The two physicians are dedicated to enriching the medical profession at MedCentral and within Mansfield, and alongside OhioHealth’s resources, money and physicians, should spur on the rise of the hospitals’ renown.
“The heart center should [now] reach the number of hearts it should be doing, 500 a year, for the people of Richland County to have best medical care possible,” Brown said.
“You can see the results here [at MedCentral] have been the best in the state. That’s a plus for OhioHealth and I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for growth here.
