St. Francis-Mooresville surgeons offer free joint replacements to needy patients

MOORESVILLE, Ind. – Four patients will receive free total joint replacement surgery at the Center for Hip and Knee Surgery during an Operation Walk-sponsored program Nov. 20.

These patients, who hail Merom, Martinsville and Clay City, Ind., meet the hospital’s criteria for financial assistance and joint replacement surgery.

Implant manufacturer Biomet of Warsaw, Ind., is donating the implants. Center surgeons are donating the surgery, and the Mooresville hospital and staff are contributing the rest of the services.

E. Michael Keating, M.D., will be doing one single and one bilateral (double) hip surgery. Michael Berend, M.D., and Robert Malinzak, M.D., will each be performing a single hip replacement.

The Center has been ranked No. 1 in Indiana for joint surgery five years in a row by HealthGrades, one of the nation’s premier health care rating companies.

Other Operation Walk-affiliated sites in the United States also are participating in the program.

Operation Walk is a private, not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization which provides free surgical treatment for patients in developing countries and occasionally in the United States.

Established in 2000 by Merrill Ritter, M.D., who also founded the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery, Operation Walk Mooresville also educates in-country orthopedic surgeons, nurses, physical therapists and other health care professionals on the most advanced treatments and surgical techniques for diseases of the hip and knee joints.

Through generous donations of time, money and supplies, Operation Walk Mooresville has been able to touch the lives of countless citizens in several countries, including Cuba, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Most recently, a medical team sponsored by Operation Walk Mooresville performed 85 total joint replacements and 14 foot and ankle reconstructions for 79 patients in just one week this past February in Nicaragua.

Staff included six anesthesiologists, 11 surgeons, one internist, 18 nurses, six surgical assistants, six physical therapists, seven interpreters, five informatics specialists, journalists from IUPUI and many volunteers who managed the supplies, patient transport, surgical equipment and surgical instrument cleaning and sterilization.

Each trip costs approximately $150,000 for transportation, cargo, shipping, medical supplies, medications, room and board.

“Each year these costs increase,” said Amy Robertson, R.N., team coordinator for Operation Walk in Mooresville. “Without the help from the Kendrick Foundation and St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville, these trips would not be possible.”

The next mission trip will be to Guatemala City, Guatemala, Feb. 27-March 5, 2011. For more information, contact Amy at arobertsonrn@yahoo.com or visit www.operationwalkmooresville.org.

More information about the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery is at www.stfrancishospitals.org/Ortho/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=23.