Celebrating 70 Years
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Celebrating 70 Years Celebrating Contents
LEGACY AND FUTURE SHINE BRIGHT TOGETHER
Dr. Mario Fatigati was born and raised in St. Clair Health, literally. Born at St. Clair Health, the associate chief medical officer of St. Clair Medical Group has now been on staff for 35 years.
Dr. Fatigati opened his primary care practice in 1986 and continued to work in the group after selling it to St. Clair Health. He is an internist who specializes in geriatric and long-term care. In addition to serving as the associate chief medical officer of St.
Clair Medical Group, Dr. Fatigati is the chief medical officer of all four Kane Community Living Centers — senior homes in Allegheny County. He still actively practices as a physician, too, seeing patients and rounding in hospitals and nursing homes.
“I’ve been on every board at St. Clair Health,” he said brightly. “I do a little bit of everything.”
Because of his extensive local background, Dr. Fatigati is intimately involved in the regional medical community and its changes. He’s watched the community grow and, with that, the health system. His family was in the restaurant business in Bridgeville, and he graduated from Canon-McMillan High School.
Living and working in the community, Dr. Fatigati sees that the area’s wants and needs are changing. Municipalities like Peters and Cecil townships are booming with younger families, which have vastly different needs than an aging population. Dr. Fatigati said St. Clair Health must cover all these age groups conveniently.
“We want to be, foremost, a clinically excellent healthcare system that delivers personalized care,” he says.
Dr. Fatigati adds that a local connection to a patient’s healthcare providers is critical, and people want people they know to care for them. St. Clair Health consistently provides that opportunity. It’s why Dr. Fatigati appreciates being part of the independent healthcare system and wants to see that legacy
continue for the next 70 years and beyond.
St. Clair Health is in the process of delivering by increasing primary care services in needed markets and recruiting new doctors with various specialties. Since he started at St. Clair Health in 1986, the level of care, professionalism and expertise have skyrocketed, Dr. Fatigati said, and he is grateful to be part of the progression. He said, “I did have a hand in changing all that.”
St. Clair Health is well-poised to tackle the next 70 years and beyond. Dr. Fatigati’s daughter, Nina, followed in his footsteps as an internist. She now practices with him at St. Clair Medical Group Internal Medicine, and her husband is a cardiologist with St. Clair Medical Group Cardiology. Dr. Fatigati is excited to see young doctors like them come through the ranks.
“St. Clair Health is in good hands,” Fatigati said.
ST. CLAIR HEALTH GROWING IN PETERS TOWNSHIP AND BEYOND
St. Clair Health continues to grow while remaining an independent healthcare system. This is one of the most encouraging things about the system that celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2024, said Elizabeth Pittman, vice president and chief operating officer for St. Clair Medical Group—St. Clair Health’s growing multispecialty group of over 175 providers with more than 30 office locations throughout the South Hills.
“It’s a very significant accomplishment,” Pittman said of the milestone.
The 2021 opening of Dunlap Family Outpatient Center, a 280,000 square-foot, six-story facility, provides an excellent patient experience in a beautiful setting, Pittman said. St. Clair Health continues to develop by upgrading facilities and recruiting top talent across medical specialties.
Patient experience remains at the forefront, ensuring patients are comfortable with top-class care.
“We want patients to feel like we know them and we are here for them,” Pittman said.
Remaining “fiercely independent” helps foster these personal relationships, Pittman added, and allows clinicians to perform at a level that consistently exceeds expectations in a competitive and challenging market.
St. Clair Health earned an ‘A’ hospital safety grade for spring 2024 from The Leapfrog Group for the 22nd time in 12 years. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization that assigns traditional grades A through F to hospitals nationwide based on more than 30 performance measures.
That competition and challenge create opportunities for St. Clair Health, as patients, employees and providers continually choose the organization. Patients, Pittman added, want to be tied to someone who really knows them and can provide personal attention.
Recent advancements should continue the growth trend for the next 70 years and beyond. This additional growth provides St. Clair Health with many prospects, including an expanded footprint in existing and new communities. Community members have been receptive to the multiple changes as they provide extended reach and availability.
Peters Township, in particular, has been a focus. The St. Clair Health Peters Township Outpatient Center now has primary care physicians and a diagnostic center on the first floor. The newest St. Clair Health location in Waterdam Plaza will host specialty services, such as neurology. Pittman said there is a need for more neurologists nationwide and locally.
“Having a neurologist right in the Peters Township office is such a service,” she added.
St. Clair Health is also looking to expand cardiology, orthopedics and OB/GYN services. Pittman said St. Clair Health is “committed to women’s care,” with excellent breast surgeons and more OB/GYN providers than ever before in the system.
Soon, more students will be gracing the halls of St. Clair Health. The healthcare system is developing a new educational arm, culminating in welcoming resident physicians at the hospital and medical students from the Duquesne University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DUQ-COM).
The genesis of this focus on medical education results from the state of the healthcare industry. A nationwide shortage of 124,000 physicians, including 48,000 primary care physicians, is predicted by 2032, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The state is also projected to lead the nation in nursing shortage by 2026.
That’s where Amy Bunger, PhD, comes in. She was recruited to St. Clair Health specifically to launch new education and learning initiatives. She has graduate medical education experience from three previous healthcare systems. If St. Clair Health is to remain independent and serve the community for years to come, it needs a pipeline of talent.
As vice president, chief academic officer and designated institutional official, Dr. Bunger is at the forefront of creating these new programs to fill St. Clair Health and Southwestern Pennsylvania with trained physicians and other healthcare workers.
“Instead of taking students from all over the country, which is what a lot of people do, we want to serve and support the local regional schools,” Dr. Bunger said. “They need this guaranteed clinical placement for their own accreditation. We’ve honed in on partners who look like us, share needs like us, share a common mission with us.”
With that, St. Clair Health is preparing to accept 600 non-physician learners annually, partnering with local schools like Waynesburg University and more. Part of the hospital’s fourth floor is being configured into an education center with a library, classroom space and resident workroom. These physical spaces help make students feel like they belong. DUQ-COM undergraduate medical student clinical rotations begin in 2026, with graduate resident placements starting next year.
“We need everybody in healthcare. We’re helping people find their fit. We’re helping people find their passion,” Dr. Bunger said. “We want (students) to see us as a resource to them instead of just a workforce for us.”
Dr. Bunger is focused on training not just doctors but also nurses and other healthcare professionals. With one of the largest aging populations in the country, if current trends continue, current healthcare workers won’t be able to meet that demand for care. And that care demands more workers in every facet and department.
One core tenet of Dr. Bunger’s educational philosophy is “badge and belong.” Each learner receives a St. Clair Health badge, a physical reminder that they belong and are a part of the team.
She wants to change the approach to training doctors, establishing a teaching rather than training hospital. Though they will one day be doctors earning a salary, residents are still students, straddled with massive debt, putting on huge amounts of stress without the tangible benefits.
After the pandemic, many healthcare workers retired or left the profession entirely due to “moral injury,” Dr. Bunger said. Many clinicians stay where they train, so establishing a relationship early in their journey can be critical in keeping doctors local. “Train to retain,” Dr. Bunger said, is the motto.
Dr. Bunger is passionate about what she does, and she keeps reminders of her why in her office, with photos of doctors she has worked alongside or helped get trained. The people are the why, the reason she works so hard. The programs she’s developing are value-driven, with dignity and a sense of belonging. It’s a privilege to be entrusted with training clinicians, Dr. Bunger said, and she wants to be part of an organization that supports students differently.
“What’s different is the way we’re trying to do it. We’re trying to do it with a particular level of dignity, sense of belonging and recognition that it is our privilege to help shape your professional identity going forward.
We believe it needs to be done differently than it’s been done historically so that we have people that want to and have the ability to continue in this profession,” Dr. Bunger said.
THANK YOU
Playing an active role in your health for the past 70 years has been a profound privilege.
Everything we do is to ensure that the communities we serve experience what makes us different.
At St. Clair Health you’re MORE THAN A PATIENT.