WHS Orthopedics Welcomes Mon Valley Native Donald Ravasio, DO

By Andrew Wilson

As an orthopedic surgeon, Donald Ravasio, D.O., follows a Golden Rule when it comes to patient care.

“My approach to patient care is very simple. Treat your patients as if they are members of your family,” he said. “It is just something that I have felt inside me from very early on in my professional life. I just firmly believe that if you approach every single patient as if they were your brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or grandmother you will never err in your medical decision making.”

While the Mon Valley native and graduate of Mon Valley Catholic says he can’t narrow it down to a single person or life event that instilled the ideal of treating every patient as he would a family member, he says his interest in health and medicine started at a young age.

“I had an unusual passion for human anatomy and how our bodies work. Getting into health care was just a natural fit to fuel that passion,” said Dr. Ravasio, who earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. “The appeal of orthopedic surgery is directly related to that. There can’t be anything better than being given the opportunity to fix a part of a body that the Good Lord created that has been broken or injured. It’s the greatest profession anyone could have.”

He also credits a local chiropractor, Dr. John Wohar from Monessen, for fueling his passion for healthcare and treating patients. “Many people do not know that I was a chiropractor before I went back to medical school,” he said. “I am very proud of that aspect of my professional education.”

He is even more proud of his military service. After graduating from medical school, Dr. Ravasio served our country in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, where he had a lengthy deployment in Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I love God, Family, and Country,” he said. “I provided orthopedic trauma care at the 31st Combat Support Hospital. During that period, the 31st CSH was the busiest trauma hospital in the world. We did more orthopedic surgery during that period than at any other time since Vietnam. The battlefield injuries that I witnessed and provided care for during that time were some of the worst injuries that I have seen in my lifetime.”

The experience at the 31st CSH inspired one of his colleagues, Col. Gregory Kidwell, to write a book titled The Come as You Are War: Stories of the Baghdad ER and the Stop the Bleeding 31st CSH, and Dr. Ravasio was honored to write the forward for the book.

“The lessons learned from that time of my career were profound and invaluable and have affected the way I practice in the civilian world to this day,” he said. “I go to work every day knowing that there is nothing that will walk through my office door that can't be managed in an appropriate fashion. Even during surgery, having done hundreds of surgeries in the most austere conditions in Baghdad, really allows me to just focus on the task at hand and accomplish what it is I need to do.”

Following his military service, Dr. Ravasio practiced at other western Pennsylvania hospitals for several years, but the opportunity to return to Washington County with Washington Health System was something that he jumped at.

“This is the most exciting reason for me to be coming back to Washington County to practice,” he said. “I love that I am being given the opportunity to reconnect with so many friends, neighbors, classmates, and former patients from my practice in Canonsburg while at the same time being able to provide them with the outstanding orthopedic care that they deserve.”

His spare time is mostly spent with his family. He and his wife Kristin have four children. The two oldest are in college at Arizona State and Loyola University in Chicago. The two youngest are in seventh and sixth grade and are active in youth sports. “I like to think I am their biggest fan and I love watching them do their thing during their sporting activities.”

He says he hopes to enhance WHS Orthopedics by being a steady presence and bringing years of experience at providing high quality orthopedic non-surgical and surgical care to patients who need joint replacements, sports medicine, fracture care, and trauma. Above all, his message is a simple one.

“If you entrust me with your orthopedic care, you will be treated just like you would if you were my mom, my uncle, or my grandfather,” he said. “You will be provided with comprehensive orthopedic service whether it’s for your arthritic knees, your rotator cuff in your shoulder, or your broken arm. Most importantly, you will be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect.”

Washington Health System Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is located at 95 Leonard Avenue in Washington, PA. Their Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeons are highly skilled in general orthopedics with a subspecialty in sports medicine, knee, hip and shoulder surgery. To find out more, please visit whs.org/ortho or call (724) 206-0610.