OH Opens First Neurosurgery Practice

Owensboro Health Medical Group has recently opened its new neurosurgery practice — the first of its kind to the healthcare system.

The facility — located in Building C, Suite 101, at The Springs Health Centre off East Parrish Avenue — opened June 12 and has been called by officials as “a significant addition to the Owensboro Health system that marks a major step forward in comprehensive healthcare services offered in the region.”

“At Owensboro Health, we are committed to providing our community with access to the most advanced treatment options and personalized care, close to home. That’s why we are thrilled to announce the opening of Owensboro Health Neurosurgery and the addition of an on-staff neurosurgeon to our organization for the first time,” said Mark Marsh, OH’s president and chief executive officer, in a release. “This is a significant milestone in our efforts to provide comprehensive neurological care to our patients.

“Our new neurosurgery program will offer a wide range of services and we are confident that this new program will make a positive impact on the lives of our patients and their families.”

For the staff — which includes neurosurgeon Dr. Adrian Smith, Ian Clark, PA-C and Courtney Biddle, RN and the practice’s administrator — they are looking forward to serving Owensboro and the surrounding areas by offering a service that was absent locally.

“There was a great need in the community (for this),” Smith said. “As patients get older, that need becomes more and more. This was the perfect area and the perfect time.

“We see the aging of the baby boomer population that requires more and more neurosurgery.”

“It was a deficit in medical care in the community and a gap that we are fortunate enough to close,” Clark said. “It’s a very important part of not just trauma and those things …, but the aging population has a certain set of needs that neurosurgery can benefit from.”

“Owensboro Health has not had its own neurosurgery department ever,” Biddle said. “This is a great opportunity for the community to add neurosurgery as one of our specialty groups.”

According to the American Medical Association, neurological surgery is a medical and surgical discipline that aims to provide care for both adult and pediatric patients to treat pain or pathological processes that may “modify the function or activity” of the central nervous system such as the brain and spinal cord; the peripheral nervous system like cranial, spinal and peripheral nerves; the autonomic nervous system; and the supporting structures of said systems and vascular supply. "Of the brain, as you get older, Tumors become more and more common cancers whether it’s a metastatic tumor (the spread of a tumor beyond its original site) or primary brain tumor (originates in the brain). Those get more prevalent as the population ages,” Smith said. “Of the spine, as we all get older, our spine starts to wear out and we start to have trouble (which) neurosurgery (can also) take care (of).”

Procedures and services offered by the practice include spine fusion surgeries, craniotomies for exploratory purposes or specific anterior and posterior approaches and resections of brain tumors.

In addition to receiving care from board-certified and fellowship-trained neurosurgeons, the practice also collaborates with radiologists, pain specialists, credentialed nurses and other professionals in an effort to provide quality care and optimal surgical outcomes, with the latter to be performed locally at the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital.

Smith, who has been in practice in other states before arriving in Kentucky, enjoys this field of medicine though he mentions it does come with some challenges such as having unfortunate conversations with patients and families upon finding and exploring serious health concerns.

“... You have to realize when patients come to us, they kind of have in their minds that something is already wrong whether it’s their primary care or emergency doctors that told them, ‘You need to see a neurosurgeon. There’s something wrong,’ ” he said. “By the time they get to us, it’s more of a ‘What do we do about it?’ mentality. “That always makes it a little easier.”

Being part of the first specific practice dedicated to neurosurgery in the OH world is an exciting opportunity for the staff that plan to set the precedent.

“It’s a lot of pressure on the shoulders,” Smith said with a laugh. “I’m definitely honored and I have to cross my t’s and dot my i’s to make sure it works out. I want to set an example for down the road.”

And with already a week into opening, the office has already seen a good wealth of foot traffic making way through the doors.

“I think we’re ramping up pretty quickly at this point,” Smith said. “Things are going as planned.”