If/Then/Else statement using presence of a / vs not present as criteria

[MLSTyburg]

I'm using a sort_name field in Excel as my criteria to merge information into my word document. Within the sort_name field there is always data; some with a / separating lname from fname and sometimes it is the name of an organization (no lname/fname). I'm not successfully using the criteria of the / to distinguish whether or not to imput something in my document or not. Does anyone know if that is possible.
Currently my merge statement looks like:
{ IF {MERGEFIELD sort_name} <> */* "via the {MERGEFIELD sort_name} " " " }
the result of the above is inserting the contents of ALL sort_name fields in each letter.

My thought is IF sort_name contains / insert sort_name IF NOT don't insert anything.