Surgical center planned to open by end of 2007

Surgeons Dr. Michael Murray and Dr. Thomas McCormick are excited about the ground breaking of the New River Surgical Arts center, which will be located in the New River Business Park off Harrigan Road and River Parkway.

The doctors purchased two separate lots, combining them into one four-acre lot for the facility in 2005.

Construction of the 25,000-square-foot outpatient surgical center is expected to be completed by October of 2007. The surgical center itself will occupy 8,000 square feet. The remaining portions will be used as offices for staff and future general surgeons or specialists, they said.

"We expect the doors to open in October or November, depending on construction delays," said Murray.

Both doctors said they hope having an outpatient surgical center will increase recruitment of specialists to the area, which is currently very difficult.

Finding and recruiting doctors to rural areas of Nevada is harder than in big cities, Murray said. Nevada doesn't have the quantity of surgeons to recruit because medical schools in the state are limited.

In bigger cities like Pittsburgh, Penn., where Murray came from, recruitment is easy, he said. With limited surgeons to recruit from teaching hospitals, recruitment in the rurals suffers, he said.

McCormick said in Las Vegas, where he was trained, there were only three surgeons available for recruitment. Two were quickly recruited by other facilities and one by the teaching hospital itself due to already low staffing.

"I came from Fallon, so I wanted to come back," he said. "It's (Fallon) a great place to raise a family."

Murray said he has been here for 10 years and McCormick for five.

"We enjoy the outdoors and the slower pace," said Murray. "We work on a more personal level."

The need for specialists in the area is high, he said.

"There's some benefits to working in the rurals and some drawbacks," he said.

The doctors are currently seeking an orthopedic surgeon and an oncologist for the facility. The positions will be helpful for patients undergoing cancer treatment and those with minor fractures in need of minor surgery, said Murray.

There has not been any discussion of recruitment of a cosmetic surgeon, he said. However, that could be an option in the future.

The majority of surgeries performed at Banner Churchill Community Hospital could be done at the surgical center, said Murray.

"About 80 percent of what we do is outpatient," he said. "We have a broad range of surgeries that can be done at a surgical center."

Insurance is another important factor, said McCormick.

Medicaid often authorizes an outpatient surgery over inpatient surgery because of the costs involved, said Murray. Patients currently have to go to Reno to have procedures done. That is also the practice of military insurance carriers, he said.

"Anything that helps diminish the cost but increase the service will be a benefit," said Murray. "It's been a long time coming. We've been working on this for three years."

Although the job is stressful no matter the location, both doctors said it is rewarding to practice medicine in Fallon because of the community an pace of life.

"I am excited about the other two medical facilities being in the development," said McCormick. "It'll be a small medical park."

Doctors Lana and Reynaldo Narag are planning a clinic to be located on the site.

DaVita Dialysis is building a dialysis center on the site to be headed up by nephrologist Dr. Steven Vicks of Reno. The dialysis center is expected to be completed by the summer, said Virgil Edwards, regional director for DaVita Dialysis, according to a previous article in the LVN.

Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson@lahontanvalleynews.com