Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.
Henderson is quickly becoming a hotbed of medical educational opportunities -- the latest of which is attracting doctors worldwide.
The Medical Education and Research Institute of Nevada launched its first orthopedic training Wednesday for 45 surgeons and 11 assistants who were a combination of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, physicians' assistants and surgical technicians. The medical professionals traveled from 17 states, Canada, Japan, Italy and Belgium to learn minimally invasive knee and hip replacement procedures.
Henderson orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Crovetti said he started the 18,000-square-foot institute after stressful travels to other training institutes across the country. He is also the founder of The Bone & Joint Institute of Southern Nevada, Peak Performance Therapy & Fitness Center, Nevada Sports Academy and iPed Solutions.
"Las Vegas is a place that deserves respect as a health care community and doesn't get any," Crovetti said. "Health care got a stigma and we are having a heck of a time shaking it to let people know we do have quality health care here."
MERIN provides classrooms and an auditorium that overlooks a simulated operating room where surgical demonstrations are conducted on cadavers.
In addition to the birds' eye view, physicians can watch procedures up close on plasma televisions that are hung above the surgical area.
There are also nine surgical bays that enable visiting doctors to perform the procedures they learn.
"The problem is these types of facilities are few and far between," said Dr. Craig Levitz who traveled to Las Vegas for the first time from Long Island, New York where is he the chief of orthopedic surgery at South Nassau Community Hospital.
He said he chose MERIN for training because it is easy to fly in and out of Las Vegas and it is a city with other things to do in the evening.
While doctors want top-notch training, they also want to train in places that offer other things to do because "they're there to learn, but it's also a day off," he said.
MERIN is "bar none the best facility I've ever seen" because of its auditorium and technology that enables doctors to witness surgeries in a way that is not available at other training institutes or in operating rooms, Levitz said.
"If this facility was in the middle of Nebraska, they'd still go," he said of doctors.
Dr. Dwight Jacobus, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Florida at Shands at Lake Shore Hospital in Lake City, Fla., said he chose MERIN because he wanted to learn more about Smith & Nephew products and techniques they are used for.
Also, "Las Vegas is a great place to do it, both weather wise and this particular training institute," Jacobus said. "MERIN institute is absolutely outstanding -- the multi-camera systems where it's just as though you're standing at the table. Generally you don't have the same visibility and the direct communication. Generally you're in a different room and they're on the other side of the wall."'
MERIN is a nonprofit facility located at 874 American Pacific Drive and is adjacent to Touro University -- Nevada, enabling the osteopathic medical students a chance to learn from the training sessions.
When training sessions are not in progress, Las Vegas Valley doctors can use the facility to practice surgical procedures they haven't done for awhile, sharpening their skills before they touch a patient, Crovetti said.
Dr. Rudy Manthei, a Las Vegas ophthalmologist, Dr. Scott Manthei, a Las Vegas ear, nose and throat specialist and Ken Kobs, Arizona and Las Vegas territory manager for Smith & Nephew medical devices assisted Crovetti with the $2.5 million investment to build MERIN. The facility has a 10-year lease.
Rudy Mathei said he invested in the facility because it promotes education and is a good opportunity for Nevada, especially since the state has had a negative health care perception.
"I've always been a strong proponent of education and I think it creates a facility for the physicians in Nevada as well as elsewhere and to learn new surgical procedures on cadavers is obviously a better way than to practice on patients," he said.
Stryker Corp., DePuy Mitek Inc. -- a Johnson & Johnson company -- and Smith & Nephew donated equipment to MERIN. To date, about $1 million in equipment and cash has been raised, Crovetti said.
It is estimated that it would cost $840,000 per year to operate MERIN and 250 cadavers are needed each year, which will be used for a variety of surgical demonstrations, he said.
MERIN is accepting body donations from Nevadans, but the program does not accept bodies with Hepatitis B or C and Human Immunodeficiency Virus because they are infectious diseases.
MERIN has not launched a local fund-raising drive, but "if you're already donating, we're asking to be that nonprofit they're donating to," Crovetti said. "Everybody locally stands to benefit from what we're doing."
Medical device companies will pay the costs for training sessions, which range from $5,000 to $25,000 per day and typically accommodate 40 to 60 surgeons.
It is estimated the MERIN will hold eight or nine training seminars each month, Crovetti said.
Smith & Nephew is sponsoring the first three-day training seminar this week.
"We travel to several different locations across the country," said Karen Marchand, Smith & Nephew manager of medical education. "It's hard to find a facility that will house as many work stations as (MERIN)."
She said MERIN is "very nice because it was designed by a surgeon" and the amphitheater layout is important to doctors when they are learning techniques.
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