Nationwide Childrens Hospital to Break Ground in 2011 for Second Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center

In order to meet growing sports medicine and orthopedic service needs, Nationwide Children’s Hospital plans to open a second Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center. Located in Dublin, Ohio, the center will be one of only a handful of pediatric-focused sports medicine and orthopedic centers in the country. This new facility boasts services such as sports and orthopedic physical therapy, athletic training, radiology and sports injury prevention instruction.

Scheduled to break ground in late March 2011, the center will be similar to Nationwide Children’s Westerville Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center located in Westerville, Ohio, which was the first facility in central Ohio focused on pediatric sports medicine and orthopedics. The new facility will sit across Venture Drive from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Dublin Close To Home^SM, located at 5675 Venture Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43017.

The center, planned at approximately 25,000 square feet, will offer two stories of patient care areas with the first floor housing clinic space, casting rooms and radiology services. The second floor will have a two-lane track, basketball space, rehabilitation gym and a performance center with state-of-the-art exercise equipment. There will be large areas with multipurpose sports and activity flooring that will be used for the Sports Medicine Personal Best Injury Prevention Programs.

“With our current Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Westerville at capacity, the new Dublin facility will support our growing need to treat young athletes around central Ohio,” said Thomas Pommering, DO, medical director of Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “The number of kids who participate in youth sports has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, which, in turn, gives way to increased sport-related injuries. This new facility will serve not only as a place for treatment, but also as a place for children and their families to learn the best way to prevent injuries.”

Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Dublin is slated to open in early 2012 and will provide an expanded and accessible location for Nationwide Children's sports medicine and orthopedic clinics, as well as sports and orthopedic physical therapy and functional rehabilitation for patients who typically have a type of orthopedic or athletic/activity-related injury.

“Injuries among young athletes are entirely different from injuries among the adult athlete population,” said Kevin Klingele, MD, surgical director of Sports Medicine, director of education and clinical research in the Department of Orthopedics at Nationwide Children’s and a clinical professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Alongside coaches, athletic trainers, primary care physicians and parents, it is our commitment to provide the best possible treatment and injury prevention for young active kids in our community.”

Several services from two Dublin Close To Home^SM Centers will move to the new Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Dublin. Sports and Orthopedic Physical Therapy and Functional Rehabilitation services offered at the Dublin Close To Home^SM Center on Perimeter Drive will move to the new center. Also, the Sports Medicine and Orthopedic clinics currently provided at the Dublin Close To Home^SM Center on Venture Drive will move to the new facility.

The new facility will house at least 10 sports medicine and orthopedic physicians plus an additional 55 employees when it opens. The Daimler Group Inc. is the construction manager for the project. Moody Nolan is the building’s exterior architect while Carney Ranker is the building’s interior architect.

"Dublin already is very fortunate to have a significant Nationwide Children's Hospital presence with three outstanding facilities in town," Dublin Economic Development Administrator, Colleen Gilger said. "We are beyond pleased to assist Nationwide Children's Hospital, an organization that sets the standard for quality child health care, increase its level of services when they open the Sports Medicine and Orthopedics facility. Not only will this project add excellent new jobs to Dublin, it will also extend the services of Nationwide Children's Hospital into surrounding counties which in turn will benefit more children."

The City of Dublin has provided Nationwide Children’s with an economic incentive to assist in extending additional sports medicine and orthopedic services to Dublin and its surrounding communities.

NOTE TO THE EDITOR: The Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Dublin will be at 5680 Venture Drive, across the street from the Nationwide Children’s Dublin Close To Home^SM Center on Venture Drive, located at 5675 Venture Drive, and adjacent to the Nationwide Children’s Dublin Close To Home^SM Center on Perimeter Drive, located at 5700 Perimeter Drive.