Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND
Dr. Anthony Miniaci calls it his field of dreams.
The executive director of sports health at the Cleveland Clinic is creating a sports medicine institute that would bring under one roof various facets of sports medicine, including surgery, rehabilitation, research and training. Dr. Miniaci said the center would occupy at least 50,000 square feet and would consist of all the sports health services now scattered throughout the Clinic's main and suburban campuses. It is expected to open within a year, though its location still is unknown.
Dr. Miniaci said he wants the institute to be at the level of the Sports Performance Complex at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The center at Pitt includes sports fitness, training, injury treatment and rehabilitation at one site on the Monongahela River. However, Dr. Miniaci said the Clinic's center would not be a copycat.
'We don't want to be the same as somebody else down the road,'' he said.
To Dr. Miniaci, that difference means offering 'alternative-type'' therapies alongside more traditional treatments, as well as boosting research within the department so that the Clinic's sports health physicians can better understand how injuries occur and can build new training programs around those discoveries.
'This will be a place where people come who want to train and get better at their sport,'' Dr. Miniaci said, adding that most existing training centers across the United States and Canada aren't affiliated with hospitals.
The cost of the institute has not yet been determined because some of the details haven't been ironed out. Dr. Miniaci said the price tag will hinge largely on whether the Clinic retrofits existing space or builds new, and whether the institute ends up on the Clinic's main campus downtown or at at one of its suburban locations.
'We have a few places in mind, but I'm leaning heavily toward one site,'' Dr. Miniaci said.
Though he wouldn't disclose the main campus locations he's considering, Dr. Miniaci didn't shy away from the positive reasons to build the institute along the Interstate 77 and 480 corridors. He's eyeing the Clinic's campus near Rockside Road in Independence or Marymount Hospital at 12300 McCracken Road in Garfield Heights.
Dr. Miniaci said the locations along the two interstate highways 'give us access and ease to the airport if we have international patients or athletes flying in.''
Serving school kids to pros
Since Dr. Miniaci came to the Clinic two years ago from the University of Toronto, where he headed the sports medicine program, the Clinic has become more attractive to pro athletes, especially hockey players. Dr. Miniaci brought with him a patient roster that included nearly every player in the National Hockey League.
He also has cared for the Toronto Blue Jays and still treats many downhill skiers and Olympic athletes. He's now the team doctor for the Browns and has two colleagues who serve as the team doctors for the Cavaliers and the Barons.
The number of pro athletes seeking treatment at the Clinic this year is projected to be 15% higher than in 2004, said Jim Zalar, administrator for the Clinic's sports health department. Overall, the department expects its patient roster to reach 28,000 this year, up 7% over 2004, Mr. Zalar said.
The pro athlete recognition is nice, Mr. Zalar said. But, he noted, 'Our bread and butter is still our local weekend warrior who goes out and twists an ankle.''
The Clinic next year expects to treat 35,000 athletes, which would be a 25% jump over 2005, Mr. Zalar said. Clinic officials cited a handful of reasons for the anticipated boost.
By January, the sports health department will add four more physicians to the current nine, Mr. Zalar said. Dr. Miniaci also is designing new programs to train athletes how to play sports without getting hurt. Some existing programs include the Throw Right and Jump Right courses, which teach athletes how to use their bodies more safely.
In addition, Dr. Miniaci said he is creating more programs for the big four sports: baseball, basketball, football and hockey. The programs would be modified for the skill level of the player, from middle school to the pros, he said.
'We're actually looking to get people in before their injury. So, when they do get hurt, it's not a question of where they go to get treatment; it's a question of which Cleveland Clinic doctor they go see,'' Mr. Zalar said.
The Clinic already has a good head start with local athletes. It has 92 physical therapists and athletic trainers who care for student athletes at 45 local high schools, as well as at Baldwin-Wallace College, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University and Oberlin College.
Gary Calabrese, a physical therapist and director of sports health and orthopedic rehabilitation at the Clinic, said he thinks a central location for all medical services and training programs will make the Clinic more attractive for athletes.
'This is really going to allow individuals to have a single stop where all the experts are in one spot to help with their injuries and training,'' Mr. Calabrese said.
