Hand & UpperEx Center Supports Community through Summerbridge Program and More

By Vanessa Orr

At the Hand & UpperEx Center, surgeons specialize in the treatment of shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand care. Patients come from as far away as Clarion, Latrobe, Altoona, Erie and even the West Virginia border to take advantage of their expertise as the area’s only subspecialists dedicated exclusively to hand and upper extremity surgery.

The five-physician practice, which is also involved in the Hand Transplant Program at the University of Pittsburgh, serves as an active teaching arm of the University, with physicians sharing their knowledge with the next generation of orthopaedic and plastic surgery residents and fellows. “Among the five of us, we have provided more than 100 years of hand surgery service to this community,” explained Managing Partner Glenn Buterbaugh, MD, who adds that the Center is currently celebrating its 10th year at its Wexford location.

In addition to treating patients and teaching, the physicians also dedicate their time to local nonprofits and arts organizations, including the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, North Star Kids and Sewickley Academy’s Summerbridge Pittsburgh Program, which provides academic and cultural enrichment to middle school and high school students facing limited opportunities.

“One of the lectures that I give to fellows in our program is called Life Lessons, and it’s about giving back,” explained Dr. Buterbaugh. “I encourage them to lead by example, and to make sure that they become active participants in their communities when they go out into practice.”

At the Hand & UpperEx Center, surgeons treat patients of all ages, dealing with issues ranging from fractures of the arm, elbow and congenital deformities in younger children, to problems caused by sports injuries or arthritis in older patients. The Center’s surgeons also provide consultative services for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as many local high school and college sports programs.

“The most common surgery that we perform is carpal tunnel release, of which I do about 200 a year,” said Dr. Buterbaugh, adding that he performs more than 1,000 operations annually. “We also correct trigger finger releases, treat arthritis at the base of the thumb, treat shoulder pain and torn rotator cuffs and tennis elbow.” Dr. Buterbaugh estimates that these particular problems make up about 70 to 80 percent of the surgeries performed. Since establishing a Surgery Center a decade ago, 23,000 of the 50,000 cases performed have been done by the physicians of the Hand & UpperEx Center, allowing surgeons to utilize state-of-the-art techniques and devices.

This dedication to education and personal advancement can also be seen in the Center’s support of Sewickley Academy’s Summerbridge Pittsburgh Program, which provides at-risk students with a myriad of opportunities to excel. Now in its 17th year, the program is designed to provide academic enrichment in math, science, literature and foreign languages to students over the course of two or three summers to help them graduate from high school and attain a college education. The program is also designed to encourage students to get excited about education and in turn, consider teaching as a career.

“Students in the Summerbridge Pittsburgh Program must satisfy at least two indicators of limited opportunity,” explained Bill Gellman, executive director. “These include meeting low-income guidelines, living in an underserved neighborhood or attending an under-resourced school, being from a nontraditional family structure, such as a single-parent family, or being the first in their family to attend college.”

Each year, Summerbridge Pittsburgh offers a six-week academic summer program for rising seventh, eighth and ninth graders on the Sewickley Academy campus. After entrance into the program, students qualify for the Summerbridge high school program, which provides academic counseling, help preparing for the SAT and the college admissions process, and free school-year tutoring.

“Based on preliminary data of a recent longitudinal survey, Summerbridge students have double to triple the high school graduation rate and college attainment rate of low-income students who do not attend a similar program,” said Gellman. “Perhaps more importantly, in a nonmeasureable way, each time we meet with students, tutor them on a college campus, or talk to them about their high school curriculum, we are intentionally setting the bar higher. We talk to them incessantly about going to college.”

Sarah Bachner is one such student. Now Summerbridge’s Middle School program director, she graduated in the second Summerbridge class. “What Summerbridge does is bring together a group of super diverse, academically motivated students who have an innate passion for learning,” she explained. “It motivates kids to be lifelong learners, and shows them that it’s okay to be smart. For many of us, education is the only path to success.”

Some of Summerbridge’s instructors are former students, and many are students from top-flight universities across the U.S. “Because the teachers are close to the students in age, they serve as great role models,” said Bachner.

Dr. Buterbaugh, who serves as chairman of the board at Sewickley Academy, and whose own daughter taught in the Summerbridge program last year, agrees. “Not only do the students involved in the program benefit, but so do the young teachers who take advantage of this opportunity,” he said. “Summerbridge is a wonderful program for the community.”

For more information, contact the Hand & UpperEx Center at 724-933-3850 or visit www.handupperex.com. To reach the Summerbridge Pittsburgh Program, call 412-741-2230 x 3143 or visit www.sewickley.org.