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For immediate release:  May 28, 2007 (Clyde, NC)

"A Big Thing in a Small Package" by Eric Larson

Surgeon drawn to impressive credentials, large number of specialists in community hospital
Dr. Al Mina, M.D., F.A.C.S., trained in one of the largest hospitals in Michigan: William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. A teaching hospital with over a thousand beds, it gave him a chance to do a year of research in addition to his residency. But William Beaumont also had exclusive connections to its community, meaning that while training as a general surgeon Mina was able to do a wide array of surgeries rather than get boxed into one or two. It’s a feature he liked about Haywood Regional Medical Center, too, and one reason he chose it over other hospitals in the Southeast. “We have things at our 170-bed hospital that really helps us to take care of the whole patient,” said Mina, noting HRMC’s specialized services that include radiology, spine surgery, and pulmonology. “I was very impressed to find a hospital this size with so many specialties.” Explained Mina: “I interviewed at some hospitals where, if there was a stone in the common bile duct discovered during surgery, those patients had to be referred across town,” Mina said. “Here we can just keep the patient asleep a while longer and call in a HRMC gastroenterologist. ” Even the letters after his name speak to the kind of credentials the hospital is able to attract in its doctors. F.A.C.S. stands for “Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.” For the distinction Mina was required to take special exams and have his surgical cases reviewed - something most of the surgeons at HRMC have accomplished. The result: “We have the same training and credentials as those you’d find at any impressive large hospital.” Originally from Detroit, Mina moved with his wife and son to Haywood County in 2003 to become one of about a dozen surgeons at the hospital. He was attracted to the pace of life and the friendliness of people in town. “People wave to you while you’re driving. You get to enjoy just being friendly to people and to strangers. That’s a nice change from up north. It’s a much calmer, nicer way of life.” Today Mina and his wife, have two children. The youngest, age 3, was born at HRMC. They settled in the Southeast to be closer to his parents in Florida and his wife’s parents in Tennessee. The couple are active in Awana, a school-age Bible study program at First Baptist Church of Waynesville, where Mina also serves as a deacon. Mina currently serves as chief of surgery, an administrative role that allows him to take part in ongoing quality improvement. For example, a Surgical Case Review Committee looks at cases each month in which some things might have been done better. “It’s not necessarily for finger-pointing, but for ways to improve patient care.” HRMC surgeons also take part in national quality control initiatives such as the “Time-Out” procedure, in which all the members of a surgery team, before beginning surgery on a patient, verbally agree on the patient’s name, the type of procedure, and location of the procedure in order to avoid a wrong-site surgery. Other national programs seek to refine how hospitals administer antibiotics before and after surgery to save lives from deadly infection. Preventing postoperative blood clots and heart attacks is also on their hit-list. “The hospital and the surgeons have embraced a lot of these initiatives, and it’s very exciting.” As a general surgeon, Mina said the toughest part of his job is encountering cancers and other diseases that were allowed to progress to advanced stages. That’s why he is a big advocate for patients visiting their primary care physicians regularly and receiving tests at appropriate ages - to aid in early detection. “Usually women should get their mammograms at 40, men should get their colonoscopies at 50. It's a better feeling to take care of these things when the lesions are small, than for people to delay their health.” Mina also touts the benefits of staying fit as a way to get through a surgery with flying colors. And he doesn’t just preach it - he practices it. When he’s not in surgery he’s often found on a treadmill - at the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center.