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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Outpatient center fills need in Interior Sam Harrel/News-Miner
By DOROTHY CHOMICZ dchomicz@newsminer.com Not all surgeries require a hospital stay, but until recently, the only available surgery facility in Fairbanks was Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. That changed in October 2010 when the Surgery Center of Fairbanks opened it’s doors. The quest by various doctors to open a free-standing outpatient surgery center in Fairbanks was a long and contentious one. Others have tried and failed to obtain state approval, but local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Wade succeeded after a seven-year effort. Wade approached area physicians in search of investors. They broke ground on the project in 2009. The 14,000-squarefoot building on Peger Road is now co-owned by a group of physician-investors, some of whom have offices in the center. Approximately 30 other doctors have surgery privileges at the facility. Dr. John Lieberman was one of the first investors to come on board. “The general public of Fairbanks wanted an option, specifically a facility dedicated to outpatient care. That’s what you get in the Lower 48. It’s about choice — some choose the surgery center, some chose the hospital,” Lieberman said. The building is split into two sections, with the outpatient surgery center sharing a common lobby with a medical
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ing” in that they have done their homework about their procedure and know that their out-patient surgery will be safe and less time-consuming than a surgery done in a hospital. “When you have a dedicated outpatient center, the patients are different and you do things office plaza. Radiology, physiclosed-circuit video system. Any the hospital is where “really a little different. You get safe cal therapy, pain management, surgery that does not require sick people go” and so feel more surgeries in either place,” neurological and spine surgery, more than 23 hours of on-site comfortable in a less instituLieberman said. and sports medicine offices fill recovery time can be performed tional atmosphere. Others are Contact staff writer Dorothy Chothe medical office plaza. The at the surgery center, and com- “self-screening and self-selectmicz at 459-7590. surgery center contains six pre- mon procedures are hernia, op rooms, two operating rooms gallbladder, joint and breast and 16 recovery rooms. surgeries. An advanced air flow sysMany patients prefer the tem minimizes contamination non-hospital setting of an outrisks, and operating rooms are patient clinic, said Lieberman. monitored by a high definition Some have the perception that
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Orthopedic surgeon Mark Wade, right, watches the screen as he adjusts a camera as endoscopic technician Nick Schultz hooks up equipment during a tour of the new Surgery Center of Fairbanks. The center, located south of Davis Road on Peger Road, is specifically for outpatient surgeries that require less than 23.5 hours of on-site recovery time.