Business First-Columbus articles from December 1996

Business First-Columbus archives from December 1996

Hospitals spending millions on ER upgrades. (emergency room)
December 6, 1996... The area's three largest hospital organizations are rebuilding their overburdened emergency rooms to create a "customer friendly" atmosphere and cut costs. Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals recently began a $4.5 million ER refurbishing and...

Casto division rolls out multifamily projects: company begins work on $21.5M of upscale units. (Don M. Casto Organization)
December 6, 1996... Don M. Casto Organization's year-old multifamily division has certainly taken the "multi" part of its mission to heart. Casto Communities has started $21.5 million worth of upscale multifamily projects as it enters the final stage of its first...

Schwartz Warren lawyers may move to Arter & Hadden. (Schwartz Warren & Ramirez)
December 6, 1996... The exodus could continue at law firm Schwartz Warren & Ramirez as several partners and associates of the firm are either leaving or negotiating to join Arter & Hadden. Kenneth J. Warren said he's leaving Schwartz Warren & Ramirez to start his...

Spirituality program points lawyers at different canon. (Joseph Allegretti writes on religion and law)
December 6, 1996... Joseph Allegretti still remembers the reaction he got from a friend when he told him he was writing a book on religion's role in the practice of law. "He said, 'What are you going to write on the rest of the page?'" Author of the recently...

OSU opens wellness center to expand service base. (Ohio State University Medical Center)
December 6, 1996... Ohio State University Medical Center wants prevention to become a major part of the cure. To that end, it is expanding its preventive and rehabilitative cardiology program into a new integrated wellness and preventive center called the OSU...

Bar association program lands new client for Jupiter agency. (Columbus Bar Assn.)
December 6, 1996... The Columbus Bar Association is spending $120,000 a year promoting its attorney referral services through an advertising agency that specializes in consumer advocacy. Jupiter Marketing and Communications has been so successful in its approach...

Area banks wage ATM war to cut costs, boost profits.
December 6, 1996... Central Ohio banks are aggressively seeking new sites for ATM machines beyond the branch walls to lower costs, increase fee income and meet customer demand. Leading the way is Columbus-based Huntington Bancshares Inc., which led Ohio banks in...

Rubin hopes to build SAR through general contracting. (homebuilder Scott A. Rubin, SAR Building Co.)
December 6, 1996... Homebuilder Scott A. Rubin has expanded into general contracting for housing and commercial projects, a move he expects will grow into a $20 million to $25 million business within two years. Rubin, president of SAR Cos. and Gemstar Homes, said...

Give credit - and a chance - to credit union.(Editorial)
December 6, 1996... As many of you are aware, Capital City Federal Credit Union recently applied to the City of Columbus for a Community Development Block Grant to provide more economical financial services options to less fortunate residents of the city's pre-1950...

Swinging relief: golf therapy takes pain from game. (NovaCare)
December 6, 1996... If you're a golfer and you're looking for some back talk, give NovaCare a call. Five Greater Columbus NovaCare Outpatient Rehabilitation centers are the first in Ohio licensed to offer a program that experts say simultaneously improves the...

Podiatrists get militant: union idea grows as HMOs limit physician membership. (health maintenance organizations)
December 6, 1996... The old labor slogan "Vote with your feet" could take on a new meaning if podiatrists elect to follow in the tracks of Dr. John Mattiacci. A Harrisburg, Pa. podiatrist, Mattiacci is president of the Physician's Guild of the Lower Extremities,...

Hospices offer suicide alternative: palliative care takes terror, pain from life's last days.
December 6, 1996... No one likes to talk about dying, but sometimes facing the inevitable head on and making provisions for it, can improve the quality and not just the quantity of life. That was the overall conclusion of a support study conducted by the Robert...

State fund spreads cost of charity.
December 6, 1996... Central Ohio hospitals and government agencies have developed a number of ways to meet the health care needs of inner city poor people. "All hospitals are faced with the same problem," said John Snyder, president of the Hospital Association of...

Medicaid HMOs face test of caring. (health maintenance organizations)
December 6, 1996... Jewel Barron hopes to make lemonade from what she sees as a lemon. Barron, a registered nurse and executive director of the ECCO Family Health Center on the Near East Side, says poor people on welfare are feeling squeezed. Contributing to that...

Scotts Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 13, 1996... Company Name Scotts Co. Exchange NYSE Symbol SMG Company Profile Scotts Co., through its subsidiaries, is a major national producer and marketer of do-it-yourself consumer lawn-care and professional turf products based in Marysville. These...

Market survey shows region playing catch-up on malls. (Columbus, OH)
December 20, 1996... A recent survey of Columbus shopping destinations suggests Franklin County has a glut of strip centers. But the data also suggests that pockets of the city and surrounding counties offer development opportunities. Boulevard Strategies, in...

Star Bank. (Star Banc Corp.)(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 20, 1996... Exchange NYSE Symbol STB Company Profile Star Banc Corporation, through its various banking subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services. Customers are located throughout Ohio, northern Kentucky and eastern Indiana. The...

Empty-nester project flies in Jefferson Twp. (National Real Estate Development Inc.'s residential projects)
December 27, 1996... Construction has started in Jefferson Township on what could be the first of several "empty-nester" residential projects for National Real Estate Development Inc. Ronald A. Huff, National Real Estate, president and CEO, said five of eight...

Voinovich: more changes likely to workers' comp. (Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich)(Interview)
December 27, 1996... Gov. Voinovich may be enjoying record-high popularity ratings as 1996 draws to a close, but a number of difficult business-related issues loom for him in 1997. As the Republican governor lays the groundwork for U.S. Senate bid in 1998, he sat...

Health-care evolution creates demand for hospital CEOs.
December 27, 1996... Hiring an experienced hand to replace retiring CEO Stuart W. Williams could prove to be an expensive proposition for Children's Hospital. Children's won't be alone, say search-industry executives, because demand is high for skilled hospital...

Williams leaves Children's in a competitive position. (CEO Stuart W. Williams; Children's Hospital)
December 27, 1996... Children's Hospital has developed into one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation under the leadership of recently departed CEO Stuart W. Williams. Since Williams was promoted to CEO in 1977, some of the hospital's achievements have...

Vocational levy loss may narrow skilled labor pool.
December 27, 1996... PICKERINGTON - Students won't be the only ones affected by recent budget cuts at the Pickerington-based Fairfield Career Center. Employers in Lancaster, already challenged by a labor shortage that's nearly as bad as the one plaguing Columbus,...

Proving age discrimination now more difficult.
December 27, 1996... Without doubt, the most written about, the most studied, the most advertiser-targeted and vocal generation in the history of the planet has to be the baby boomers. This generation made itself heard right from the start. Retirement may not be...

Powerful thoughts to stoke relationship selling's fire.
December 27, 1996... Here's the rock-paper-scissors game of selling: Relationship is more powerful than price. Relationship is more powerful than delivery. Relationship is more powerful than quality. Relationship is more powerful than service. The quality...

Volunteering: it's good - and good for you.
December 27, 1996... Tutoring. Candy stripers. Soup kitchens. Food pantries. Work with the elderly. Work with the disabled. Walking for the local arthritis foundation. Such good deeds can give young people a worth ethic, teach them compassion and expand their...