New pain treatment center at St. John’s

St. John”™s Riverside Hospital with the St. John”™s Medical Group in Yonkers held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 27 to mark the opening of its new Interventional Spine and Pain Management Center at 1022 N. Broadway in the Boyce Thompson Center.

Ron Corti, president and CEO of the hospital, said, “The best part of my job is when a vision comes to fruition and today it’s coming to fruition. This took a lot of work. All of you know people who suffer with pain. What this team is able to do without surgical intervention … it’s a plan of treatment at the highest level, is get people back to function.”

Dr. Michael DiGiorno, medical director of St. John”™s Medical Group, said, “Techniques such a Peripheral Nerve Stimulation and Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression typically produce pain relief and allow our patients to return to normal activities within 24 hours. The most important thing about this particular center to me is the fact that we’re reinventing how we look at pain. We’re doing it because our community needs that. When we’re facing the opioid crisis as a community we know drugs are not the answer. We’re one of the first in the region to do some of these innovative procedures and we’re facing pain in ways that will help reduce dependence on opioid medication.”

Dr. Stephen Erosa who specializes in pain management at the hospital explained that  additional techniques such as injections, radio frequency ablation, and neuromodulation can address the source of pain without the use of addictive drugs such as opioids.

“In addition, we place emphasis on rehabilitation, such as physical therapy and home exercise plans, along with procedures to help our patients alleviate their pain and get back to doing the things they love to do,” Erosa said.

“You’re providing a wonderful service and that service is something that’s critically needed. I thank you for your investments, I truly do,” Mayor Mike Spano said.