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			 Dr. John Mellinger, a surgeon with SIU HealthCare, and Dr. James 
			Fullerton, a surgeon with Springfield Clinic, serve as co-medical 
			directors of the Memorial Advanced Hernia Center. 
 "The concept behind the Memorial Advanced Hernia Center is to offer 
			the patients we are here to serve a comprehensive, multidisciplinary 
			and outcome-focused approach to their hernia, including the related 
			conditions and health issues that often accompany and contribute to 
			hernia formation,” Mellinger said.
 
			
			 
			The physician-referral center has 12 SIU HealthCare and Springfield 
			Clinic surgeons, including the two co-medical directors, who will 
			see patients.
 “There are all different kinds, shapes and forms of hernias,” 
			Fullerton said. “Some of them can be very complex; they may have 
			been repaired before on multiple occasions, aren’t healing properly, 
			are infected or may involve bowel perforations. These are the kinds 
			of complex cases that our surgeons are committed to repairing so we 
			can strengthen the quality of hernia care in central Illinois.”
 
			
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The center provides a multidisciplinary approach including specialized services 
such as bariatrics, pulmonary, plastics, diabetic management, smoking cessation, 
physical therapy, advanced wound and stoma care, nutrition counseling and pain 
management.
 The center participates in the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative, 
which seeks to improve hernia care delivered to patients through 
patient-centered collection data, ongoing performance feedback to clinicians, 
and improvement based on analysis of collected data and collaborative learning.
 
				 
			[Michael Leathers, Memorial Health 
			Systems] 
			
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