OrthoWorx President and CEO Bob Vitoux speaks during an open house the organization had in its office in Warsaw City Hall on Wednesday, May 15.

Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Around 12 projects are currently being considered as part of $30 million in orthopedic retention funds coming to OrthoWorx from the state.

OrthoWorx President and CEO Bob Vitoux gave that information to InkFreeNews during an open house the organization held in its office in Warsaw City Hall on Wednesday evening, May 15.

He didn’t say what the projects are specifically, but noted they fall under the categories of housing, amenities and experiences and education.

“We know that we have a housing challenge that we continue to focus on, so we have multiple development projects from a housing perspective,” said Vitoux. “We also know that amenities and experiences are what are going to attract this next generation, so we’re thinking about different things that are going to continue to create experiences.”

“The state is looking for us to use these dollars for capital projects, so again we’re thinking about how will we deploy these dollars in the way of capital projects that are going to create experiences,” he said. “The other thing that we’re working very closely with is Grace College and the industry as it relates to some of the things that are needed in an innovation perspective.”

Last year, the state announced that it was granting $30 million to OrthoWorx, a nonprofit which works to support the orthopedic industry.

Though around 12 projects are being considered by leaders, they may not all be implemented as the state has final say over them.

Vitoux said leaders should go before the state budget committee sometime next month.

He said he and nine others had been “meeting consistently” over the last five-six months regarding planning for the retention funds.

“Our goal is to take all of the natural beauty that we have in this community and the natural resources of the lakes and really just try and magnify those with some of the amenities that we hope to bring forward, but the other thing is, while it’s orthopedic-focused, I would tell you again … we would really like to try and interweave as much as we can other industries, other manufacturing bases into what is that we are doing.”

“We want to bring talent into this community for generations to come. That’s really what we’re after,” said Vitoux.

During the open house, he did a presentation updating community members on OrthoWorx initiatives.

Those include its support of the launch of the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Pathway at the Warsaw Area Career Center through which Warsaw Community Schools’ and Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. students in the next school year will get manufacturing experience through partnerships with Instrumental Machine & Development, Medartis, Precision Medical Technologies and Zimmer Biomet.

OrthoWorx has also supported a similar initiative at Wawasee Community Schools, the POLYWOOD Academy, a partnership with POLYWOOD; and is backing one set to start at Whitko Community Schools in connection with Paragon Medical.