Ready to rotate

Beginning Friday, a new rotation of surgeons will be providing services in Jay County.

With its two full-time surgeons departing, IU Health Jay is implementing a new strategy for providing surgery services to its patients.

Rather than having full-time surgeons at the hospital in Portland, a rotation of providers from IU Health’s Muncie surgical group will team up to handle those needs. Procedures at IU Health Jay will be limited to outpatient only, with inpatient and emergency surgeries to be done at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie.

Dr. Mark Saleem, Dr. Paul Stewart and Dr. David Cadogen of IU Health Ball will cover surgery at IU Health Jay beginning Friday, with Dr. Pete Voss (obstetrics and gynecology) also involved. Saleem and Cadogen both specialize in general surgery and breast care, while Stewart handles both of those areas as well as colon and rectal surgery. They will split their time between office hours and surgery, with a goal of making sure patients know their surgeons through face-to-face or virtual consultations prior to their procedures.

Two more surgeons are slated to join the rotation by the end of the year.

There’s potential to add more surgeons to the rotation down the road, as they are being recruited to the Muncie group with services at IU Health Jay as part of the plan.

“It’ll grow as we recruit,” said Vanator. “It’s a pretty robust practice in Muncie. So I think it’s a good draw because they know they’re going to get experience in a very busy hospital. … And I think it actually adds a little bit that we have the expectation to come (to Jay County).”

The changes come after longtime local surgeon Dr. Herman Burgermeister left his practice earlier this year and Dr. Monzur Haque, who joined IU Health Jay in July 2018, left this month.

The hospital made efforts to recruit a new general surgeon to IU Health Jay, but specialization and location, among other factors, made that process difficult.

“General surgery is fewer and further between,” said IU Health Jay president Jon Vanator.

While inpatient surgeries will no longer happen locally, the goal with the change is to expand outpatient offerings at IU Health Jay. Surgeries that will be available at the hospital will include laparoscopic procedures, colorectal, surgical oncology and scopes and endoscopies. Voss will also be available to handle gynecological procedures.

“In my mind, it’s ‘What do most people need?’” said Vanator. “We’ve really tried hard to understand what are the things that you just expect to be able to have here and work with our surgeons to meet those needs.”

IU Health Jay’s surgical team will remain in place.

“Ideally a year from now we’re going to be busier than ever,” Vanator added.

Another goal is to expand the surgery center at IU Health Jay to provide other services. That could include podiatry, ear, nose and throat and others.

“We really want to grow that building to a more robust multi-disciplinary clinic,” said Vanator.