UH Family Medicine Specialist Has Deep Roots in the Community
June 24, 2024
UH Clinical Update | June 2024
Becoming a family practice physician brought Dominic Sanniti, DO, home to Geauga County, and renewed a family connection to University Hospitals.
Dr. Sanniti grew up in Bainbridge Township; his mother was a director of nursing at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, and his father ran juvenile detention centers, which sometimes meant he’d move to different cities or states for a time.
Dominic Sanniti, DODominic had never thought about becoming a physician until he took an elective class at Kenston High School, one that involved animal dissection and learning about anatomy and physiology.
“That’s when I fell in love with the science behind medicine, and realized the challenge of interlinking everything that was going on in the body,” he says.
Today, he values the human aspect of providing care just as much, if not more. Sometimes, he says, science is the easy part. “The most satisfying thing, especially in family medicine, is that you get to take care of the whole family, you get to be the doctor for everyone -- from the newly born, to a child or adult with strep throat, or for someone who has been diagnosed with cancer,” he says.
He got his undergraduate degree at Kent State University while also working part-time as a nurse assistant in what is now UH Portage Medical Center. He then received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee, Georgia and followed that with a family medicine residency at relatively nearby Floyd Medical Center.
He graduated on a Friday, and the following Monday, he began working at UH as a physician.
Dr. Sanniti’s practice is based in Middlefield, and most of his patients are Amish. That means there are cultural differences and some genetically-based illnesses and conditions, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, that are more common among Amish people.
Some people affectionately refer to him as a ‘country doctor,’ but Dr. Sanniti’s role at UH goes far beyond that. Besides having an extremely busy practice, and being on-call for deliveries 24 hours a day, 14 days each month, he is Chair of Medicine at UH Geauga Medical Center, and Medical Director of the UH Geauga Pediatrics/Newborn Nursery.
Recently, he was named a “Cliff Appreciates/Dinner with the Doc” honoree, and his nomination by Marlea Miano, MD, CMO of UH Geauga Medical Center, shows why -- including the fact he has become known and trusted in the Amish community. He also does home visits for his pediatric patients.
Early in 2023, Dr. Miano notes, UH Geauga leaders approached Dr. Sanniti about providing potential coverage for all newborns at UH Geauga, as well as for observation-stay pediatric patients. Dr. Sanniti agreed to help, and also stepped up to accept the role of Newborn Hospitalist Medical Director.
“He has coordinated with local pediatric-trained hospitalists for coverage; he leads by example and models UH values,” says Dr. Miano. “He engages his physician team to leverage their strengths and encourages personal growth. Having a committed group of local newborn hospitalists has made a difference in the quality of care collaboration with nursing staff and ancillary services. Dr. Sanniti has created a positive climate as he works towards optimal outcomes.”
Compassion is another one of his hallmarks. Not long ago, Dr. Sanniti helped coordinate palliative services for the baby of an Amish mother. The baby, in utero, had already been diagnosed with homozygous hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and as a result, would be still-born.
Through the arrangements Dr. Sanniti made working with the palliative care team at UH Rainbow, he was able to ensure that the baby’s mother would not have to travel to UH Cleveland Medical Center, but could instead deliver her baby at home. This allowed her and the baby to be close to the entire family during a physically and emotionally challenging time.
Dr. Sanniti and his family live in Munson Township; he describes himself as a professional hobbyist, with honeybee apiaries, chickens, turkeys, and maple trees that each provide 10 to 15 gallons of sap that must be collected for syrup each spring.
He is working on his MBA at Lake Erie College, where he also teaches students who want to become physician assistants. He is interested in some day moving to a leadership role, perhaps as a CMO or COO.
“My focus would be improving care in the more rural areas, and bringing the inpatient and outpatient worlds closer together,” he says.
Congratulations to Dr. Sanniti on his “Dinner with the Doc” honor.