The Salem News - August 6, 2007

Cummings Center touts 'Medical City' for patients' one-stop shopping
The Salem News

BEVERLY - In an intense game of hockey, the puck smashed one of Don Fortini's fingers, breaking it to the point that it required reconstructive surgery.

Beverly Hospital referred him to an office at the Cummings Center, and for the first time Fortini found himself in one of the many waiting rooms about a block from his house.

"I didn't even know how much was in here," he said.

Occasionally he'll swing by the Cummings Center to use an ATM, but it wasn't until he broke his finger that he realized the sheer number of physicians and pediatricians, podiatrists and psychologists, neurologists and urologists in the complex. In the same building - 900 Cummings Center - are massage therapists, hearing services, holistic spas, hospice care, day care and dentists. Patients can also get a root canal, their teeth whitened, their eyelids expanded and their breasts augmented.

As part of a new focus over the last few years, the Cummings Center has been drawing medical offices from across the North Shore in what it has dubbed "Medical City." There are 77 practitioners there already - and the newest addition will be two primary-care offices in September through Salem Hospital.

"We're opening to serve existing patients in the Beverly area," said Jean Graham, media relations manager for Salem Hospital. The idea is to provide a closer location for them, as well as cater to the "city within a city."

"There's a lot of people who work at the Cummings Center, and it may be easier for them to see a doctor during the work day," she said.

Dr. Beverly Shafer, who treated Fortini's finger, said having so many doctors so close together creates a sort of support network. It's a world where second opinions are an office away. She's been asked by the pediatrician's office across the hall to look at kids with cuts and has sent her own patients over to a nearby orthotics office for custom-made casts.

"It's very comfortable as a physician knowing there are other professional physicians available where we can send people," she said.

That's the idea, said Cummings Center Assistant General Manager Dave Blumberg.

"We like them to be next to one another," he said. "We like someone to be able to come here and accomplish everything they need to do at once."

Donna Ramos of Salem said a younger person, or someone new to the area, would be more likely to take advantage of such a complex. She went there to see a specialist, but isn't likely to switch from her established, long-term doctor or dentist.

Blumberg said the push toward Medical City has happened over the last few years. Dr. Shafer's practice, for instance, was one of the 16 that moved in last year. The entire 900 building is devoted to medical offices, along with a portion of the 500 building. Only about 20 percent is vacant, and offices are moving in quickly, he said.

And the medical section is hardly isolated from the rest of the Cummings Center. Shafer's office, for instance, is behind Acapulco's, a Mexican restaurant.

"If they have to wait too long, they can go get a margarita," she joked.