Andover Surgery Center expands
facility, services
Tom Duggan
Walking into the lobby of the newly
renovated Andover Surgery Center,
patients arriving for surgery with their
friends and families find themselves in a
quieter and more convenient environment
than day surgery at a local hospital.
A friendly and relaxing atmosphere,
complete with reading material, a giant
fish tank and a staff to help answer
questions and ease concerns, the Andover
Surgery Center is one of only two stand
alone surgical facilities licensed by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr.
Crawford Campbell, who has been with
Essex Orthopaedics since 1995, says that
the surgery center is now expanding the
range of the specialty services offered
to patients.
“In Andover, for example, there’s
an eye center, there are places that just
do GI or GU,” Campbell said, “but
this facility has always had multiple
specialties. So, we can offer
orthopedics, gynecology, urology,
pediatrics, and now, even general
surgery, plastics, podiatry, and so on.
It’s unique in that respect.”
Prior to completing a multi-million
dollar renovation earlier this year, the
surgery center was treating 200-250
patients per month. But, since the
expansion there is now room to service
350-400 patients per month, something
that Dr. Campbell says keeps
patient costs low while improving the
quality of care.
“It used to be that only minor
procedures were done in a facility like
this. But now, we can handle all day
surgeries. We have a great anesthesia
team. We do general anesthesia. It’s
a complete facility. If something happens
and you get sick here its just like being
in the hospital. We have everything we
need to take care of you."
Plus, Campbell says, “A facility
like this, where the turnover is fast, I
can literally do twice as much surgery
here in a day as I do in hospital. The
nurses are great here. They know my
procedures and we all work very well
together.”
Campbell says the convenience for his
patients and the time saving he
experiences is invaluable to patient
care. “I’m not waiting 40
minutes between cases, I get one case
done, the new carts are moved in, and we
are ready to go again. It is very
efficient and very user friendly. A lot
of patients don’t like to go to the
hospital; particularly now, with all
these special bacteria that grow in the
hospital setting, in the ICU, and places
like that. This is a much healthier place
to be, which has tremendous advantages
for our patients.”
The center now has brand new recovery
areas and private pediatric recovery
rooms that allow a child’s family
members to stay with them throughout
their visit. The center has also
increased office space for physicians,
making it easier for doctors to see
patients when they are not performing
surgery.
“Many things we used to do in the
hospital have transitioned to outpatient
facilities like ours,” Campbell
continued. “Things are so expensive
in a hospital, you have to support
intensive care units, a large
infrastructure, an emergency department,
etc. But the cost of having surgery in a
facility like ours costs any insurer so
much less, because we just don’t
have the overhead of a Hospital.”
“I had cervical spine surgery a
number of years ago,” he recounted.
“I was in the hospital for not even
a day and the total bill was more than
$10,000. Today, in a facility like
this, doing cervical discectomies as an
outpatient, costs about two to three
thousand dollars. So it is much less
expensive and much more convenient for
the patient.
Dr. Nitzberg, P.C. (a Gastroenterologist
who specializes in colonoscopies and
endoscopies) agrees. “We give people
who come to our offices a choice between
having day surgery here or in a hospital
and overwhelmingly, our patients prefer
to be here. It’s more private, and
is a much better setting than a hospital,
especially when you are nervous about
having a procedure. I already did nine
surgeries today and between surgeries I
can see other patients. It really is the
convenience and cost that make coming
here so preferable for our patients but
there is something to be said for easing
the anxiety for a patient or their family
by providing an area that is less
stressful.”
Patients visiting the surgery center
today may remember it as the old walk-in
clinic run by the Lawrence General
Hospital. While the Andover Surgery
Center no longer accepts walk-in’s,
patients can call and make an appointment
with their doctor at the facility and
they will be seen much more quickly than
they could in a hospital.”
*Dr. Crawford Cambell is an upper
extremity surgeon with Essex Orthopedics
and just moved his practice to Salem, NH.
He is the first upper extremity
specialist in The Valley and graduated
from Harvard Medical School in 1987 and
then interned in General Surgery at
Massachusetts General Hospital and the
Harvard Combined Residency in Orthopedic
Surgery.
Dr. Cambell also served as Chief Resident
at Children’s Hospital in Boston. He
then trained as the Rowe Shoulder Fellow
at MGH, and spent one year for additional
subspecialty training in Hand Surgery at
Brigham & Women’s Hospital and
Children’s Hospital. He is board
certified in Orthopedic Surgery, is a
fellow in the American Academy of
Orthopaedic Surgery and a member of the
American Society for Surgery of the Hand.
Dr. Campbell achieved a Certificate of
Added Qualifications in Surgery of the
Hand.
*Dr. Nitzberg has been a
gastroenterologist for 15 years, and
established his solo practice, Mark C.
Nitzberg, P.C., in 2001. He is a member
of the medical staffs of Caritas Holy
Family Hospital and Lawrence General
Hospital, as well as the Andover Surgery
Center. A 1989 graduate of the University
of Massachusetts Medical School, Dr.
Nitzberg served his residency there,
followed by a gastroenterology fellowship
at the University of Connecticut Medical
Center. Dr. Nitzberg is board certified
in internal medicine and
gastroenterology, and is a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society and the
American Medical Association.
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