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Phone: 276-328-5332 Though born in Italy, Dr. D'Amato is an American citizen. He holds an undergraduate degree from the Scientific Institute of Vittoria, Italy, awarded in 1972. Dr. D'Amato was awarded a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery degree by the University of Catania in Catania, Italy in 1979. Dr. D'Amato completed a five year residency in General Surgery at Charles S. Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, New York in June 1986. During his residency, he completed a Pediatric and Cardiopulmonary Surgical rotation at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York. Upon completion of his training, Dr. D'Amato moved to Wise, Virginia and participated in a group practice from 1986 to 1991. He has been in solo private practice in Wise since 1991.
Dr. D'Amato maintains office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday. He sees 15-20 patients a day in the office and estimates that he performs about 60 surgical procedures there each month. He also performs 30-40 surgical procedures at local hospitals during the average month. Adults over the age of 50 make up about 60% of Dr. D'Amato's practice. About 30% of his patients are between the ages of 15 and 50 and another 10% are children and adolescents. He estimates that 70% of his patients are covered by Medicare and/or Medicaid, 25% are covered by commercial carriers, and 5% are self-pay. Dr. D'Amato is an experienced preceptor who has taught medical students and residents affiliated with Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine for several years. He enjoys helping students apply theory and principle to the practice of bread and butter medicine. With privileges granted by the hospital, residents can help Dr. D'Amato perform endoscopies, hernia repair, mastectomies, colon and gall bladder procedures, and skin surgeries. Residents who demonstrate competence may perform hands-on skin procedures under Dr. D'Amato's supervision in the office. Residents will be involved in the evaluation of patients, patient education and preparation, surgical procedures, post-operative care, and follow-up visits.
St. Mary's Hospital is an acute care facility with 36 staffed beds and a separate psychiatric service. The hospital's occupancy rate in 1997 was 81.2% and 15.9% of patient care days were utilized by Medicaid patients. The hospital wrote off 7.2% of its 1997 expenses for charity care, bad debts, and taxes.
These hospitals offer a standard range of services, including emergency, inpatient and outpatient care, intensive care, surgery and anesthesia, obstetrics, radiology, imaging, cardiopulmonary rehab, laboratory, nutrition, physical therapy, pharmacy, home health, and occupational medicine. Norton Community is a teaching hospital affiliated with the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine. The Town of Wise (pop. 3,255) and City of Norton (pop. 3,904) are adjacent communities centrally located in the County of Wise (pop. 40,123). Wise County's landscape is a forested wonderland that has been forever altered by surface (coal) mining. Two four-lane highways - US 23 and US 58 Alternate intersect in Norton/Wise and offer easy access for travels throughout Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky. The local economy is based on educational, health and social services (23.7%), retail and wholesale trade (16.8%), forestry and mining (10.3%), arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services (7.4%), construction (7.2%), and manufacturing (6.2%). In 1995, major employers included the public schools, St. Mary's Hospital, Wal-Mart, Norton Community Hospital, Lonesome Pine Hospital, Paramount Coal Corporation, Powell Mountain Coal Company, Glamorgan Coal Corporation, the University of Virginia's College at Wise, and Mountain Empire Community College. There are three shopping centers in the Norton/Wise area with any number of department stores, groceries, discount stores, and specialty boutiques. There is a two-screen cinema in one of the shopping centers. American, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian "sit-down" restaurants vie with fast food vendors for the dining dollar. The Virginia/Kentucky "Opry" in downtown Norton showcases bluegrass, gospel, and country music acts on weekends. Norton has two parks with well-equipped playgrounds in the downtown area. On Stone Mountain, high above the city streets, are the Flag Rock and High Knob recreation areas with facilities for hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking, and fishing. From a fire tower on High Knob, visitors can enjoy an awesome 360-degree view of the surrounding countryside. Just on the other side of Stone Mountain are Bark Camp Lake and High Knob Lake, both created by dams built to store municipal water supplies and prevent flash floods. See our county/city profiles for more information about Norton and Wise at www.uvawise.gmec/edu.
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Luciano
D'Amato, M.D.
The
Southwest Surgical Clinic houses three treatment rooms, a waiting area,
and administrative offices. There are no laboratory, x-ray or pharmacy
services on the premises. 
Dr.
D'Amato maintains admitting privileges at three hospitals - Norton Community,
St. Mary's (Norton), and Wellmont Lonesome Pine. Norton Community Hospital
is an acute care facility with 52 staffed beds (excludes long term care
and observation beds and newborn bassinets). The hospital is licensed
for a total of 129 beds. In 1997, the staffed bed occupancy rate for
the hospital was 92.3%. Also in 1997, 6.8% of the hospital's expenses
were allocated to charity care, bad debt or taxes and Medicaid patients
accounted for 20.1% of patient days.
Wellmont
Lonesome Pine Hospital is an acute care facility in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
The hospital has 49 staffed beds and a 1997 occupancy rate of 42.4%.
Almost 9% of the hospital's expenses in 1997 were consigned to charity
care, bad debts, and taxes and 16.6% of patient care days were utilized
by patients with Medicaid.