Dr. Chris Kager completed his medical training with a Fellowship in Spinal Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Bill Monacci’s most recent post was Chief of Cranial Base Surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
With outstanding academic records and proven surgical skills, these two physicians would be on the short list of candidates for the top neurosurgical practices around the country. When the time came to decide where to work and live, each had the same objective: To find an area with an outstanding record in the delivery of health care, and one where they could raise their young families in a healthy environment. They discovered that Lancaster County fit the bill, and they now practice at Lancaster NeuroScience and Spine Associates.
They spend their professional lives helping patients here with brain and spine injuries or illnesses. The doctors say that what they receive in return here is enriching and fulfilling. They find Lancaster to be a welcoming place, with people who are genuinely grateful for the care they receive. They also appreciate the highly diversified Lancaster medical community with its progressive teaching atmosphere and nationally- ranked excellence in critical specialties.
Before coming to Lancaster in February, 2006, Dr. Bill Monacci worked in Kuwait, treated soldiers wounded in Iraq, and deployed doctors to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. His experience as former chief of cranial base surgery at Walter Reed is an advantage for patients who require craniotomies and gamma knife procedures.
“I’ve been surprised by the volume of cases that the LGH trauma center handles,” he said. Dr. Monacci has high praise for Lancaster’s hospitals, nursing care and support staffs, and finds the administrations very helpful. “The medical care is as good as I hoped that it would be,” he says.
He and his wife, Joi, have joined a local gym, and are very involved with their children’s school activities. The Monacci’s four daughters, age nine to 16, are immersed in tennis, field hockey, gymnastics, soccer and dance.
They are all finding much to like here, exploring on weekends, enjoying the restaurants, biking on country roads. They love the scenic beauty of the area, and the interaction with the Amish. “My wife and I are very impressed by the outgoing nature of folks,” he said, “and there’s more to do here than is similar size cities.”
Dr. Monacci stays in close contact with his military colleagues, and uses the CNN website to follow the work of his friends at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He is beginning to treat patients at the Veterans Hospitals in Lebanon and Brandywine. As the former Neurosurgery Consultant to the Army Surgeon General, he is gratified to have this link to Pennsylvania veterans.
Dr. Chris Kager and his wife Stephanie, a pediatrician, are also active athletes who have completed three full marathons. They are enjoying raising their six children in Lancaster, and spend their free time watching them compete in tennis, track, and horseback riding.
Some of their time also goes to support the work of Think First, a national head and spine injury prevention organization for children. The group works to educate kids on safe behavior like wearing helmets and avoiding risky behavior. Think First members go to middle schools and high schools to give presentations, and take special training each year through the national group to stay current on trends and new approaches to keeping kids safe and enlightened. The goal is fewer injuries and efficient, expedient handling of those that do occur. Dr. Kager credits the nurses of Lancaster General Hospital’s Neurosurgical unit with maintaining Think First on the local level.
“We’re working toward becoming an official satellite chapter in Lancaster,” he said. “With my wife being a pediatrician, and me a neurosurgeon, it’s a natural choice for us, and a way to be involved with our community.”