A new Erie Sports Center sports medicine center is one people 'have to see'
Wednesday celebrated the opening of a sports medicine and performance facility which Allegheny Health Network leaders say is unlike many others in the United States.
AHN opened its new 14,000-square-foot orthopedic institute and sports performance hub at Erie Sports Center with a celebratory ribbon cutting six months after plans were announced. It’s set to see its first patient in a matter of weeks and will soon offer top-level injury treatment and specialized training to local athletes.
“It’s not just offering acute care or injury care. This is a facility that actually makes performance better through the support that’s provided for our athletes,” said Dr. Chris Clark, president of Saint Vincent Hospital. “You really have to see it to believe it.”
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Long time coming
Plans for this facility were revealed in October 2023, two years after AHN leaders and Erie Sports Center owner Troy Bingham began planning. Its two wings flank the clubhouse at Erie Sports Center’s dome – one offering orthopedic care, the other sports performance and therapy services.
“I think it’s pulling regionally,” said Dr. Jay Deimel, Saint Vincent’s head of orthopedic medicine. "In sports medicine, people have the ability to choose where they go, and I’ve seen that in the Chicago and San Francisco markets. If we provide the best care, theoretically, more people will want to see us because they also feel that way.”
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Care under one roof
Student-athletes from Mercyhurst University and Erie Preparatory Academy assisted in Wednesday’s ribbon cutting. They among thousands of athletes who can receive physical therapy, strength and conditioning, and imaging such as x-rays and ultrasound at this facility.
Orthopedic physicians, sports medicine physicians, primary care specialists and more will be on-hand, and the building’s orthopedic wing features more than a dozen examination rooms.
“It’s very unique in the sense that it was always difficult to have everybody under one roof with the same mission,” said Dr. Patrick DeMeo, chair of AHN’s orthopedic institute. “The athlete is being seen at the same time and the professionals can communicate between themselves for the better care of the athlete.”
Erie’s facility is the fourth of its kind under AHN, DeMeo said, and each of the previous three have succeeded.
“Everything we do here is focused on the positive development of individual athletes,” Bingham said. “We’ll continue to change the paradigm of how kids are developed in sport and give them every opportunity.”
Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @realjuveino.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: AHN sports medicine, performance facility at Erie Sports Center opens
