Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital partnership for Wyoming

March 30, 2016

To read the full story covering the Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital partnership, written by Barrett Brunsman and published in the Cincinnati Business Courier, please click here.

This is not the first Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital partnership, but it means big things for Wyoming City Schools. The two healthcare providers teamed up to win a sports medicine contract for one of Ohio’s academic leaders that begins June 1, 2016.

Physicians from Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine or the Christ Hospital Health Network will be on the sidelines of every Wyoming Cowboy’s home game. Beacon Orthopaedics will also provide one full-time and one part-time athletic trainer for the school. A 1986 graduate of Wyoming High School, Dr. Marc Schneider will share the duties of Medical Director for athletics at Wyoming City Schools. Part of the coverage involves educating coaches and players about ways to avoid common injuries, such as torn ACLs.

There are roughly 2,200 students at Wyoming, and nearly 400 are involved in the 25 varsity level sports. These include swimming, track, cross country, tennis, volleyball, golf, and more. These athletes will now have access to some of the region’s leading sports medicine physicians 24-hours a day for the five year duration of the agreement.

As part of Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital partnership to cover the school, both organizations will also sponsor health fairs to provide tips on nutrition and preventative care for local residents. The hospital will be supplementing Wyoming school’s nursing department as well. The objective is to take care of more than student athletes alone: extending the benefits out into the community as a whole. Five major hospital systems plus Beacon Orthopaedics competed for the partnership with Wyoming.

One of the big reasons behind Wyoming selecting Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital is their dedication to go beyond Friday and Saturday games. Much of the presentation for the contract was dedicated to how the duo would provide internships and hands-on opportunities for Wyoming students. Wyoming wasn’t just looking for a sports medicine provider, they were looking for a true partnership, which Beacon and Christ are able to provide.

As part of the agreement, orthopedic surgeons from Beacon Orthopaedics will provide guest lectures to Wyoming classrooms each semester for Advanced Placement anatomy classes. These students will also have the opportunity to use the Beacon Orthopaedic Education and Research Foundation’s cadaver lab in Sharonville, OH. This state of the art lab allows students to practice dissection and use advanced surgical equipment, like athroscopes.

Dr. Timothy Kremchek of Beacon Orthopaedics spoke about the arrangement with Wyoming. According to Dr. Kremchek, the deals Beacon offers differs greatly from propositions by larger medical networks in Greater Cincinnati. Sometimes these competing offers will include payments of over $500,000 to cover things like artificial turf on football fields, remodeling locker rooms, and so on.

The Beacon Orthopaedics and Christ Hospital partnership was approached with a longer-term vision than the duration of the contract. “[B]uying schools doesn’t work, and we will never do that,” Dr. Kremchek stated. “We support, endorse, and work with our schools as partners in the community. Buying your way in is shortsighted and not good for the school or community. There are some examples of that right now in our community that over time have been very bad for the care of the students.”