It takes about seven hours for Pam O’Gwynn to travel from her home in Mobile, Alabama, to Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville. She will tell you it’s worth the drive.
After getting a new right knee in 2018, O’Gwynn had vowed she would never go through joint replacement again. The surgery had gone well, but the recovery was just too hard, too long and too painful.
Pam O’Gwynn
O’Gwynn began to reconsider when her husband came home with a story about a coworker who
had traveled to Parkwest in Knoxville for a different kind of knee replacement.
Parkwest orthopedic surgeon Herman Botero, DO, has trained with world-renowned surgeons who pioneered minimally invasive knee replacement. In contrast to traditional knee replacement surgery in which the knee is bent and the soft tissues are tight, Dr. Botero uses a technique in which the knee is extended, and the soft tissues are relaxed. This allows for a smaller incision and less soft-tissue trauma, which may help speed up recovery.
After a preliminary examination and screening, O’Gwynn’s surgery was scheduled for early
August. Dr. Botero replaced her knee on a Thursday. Her husband took her home just a few
hours later.
“I was so blown away by everything about the hospital,” O’Gwynn says. “Everyone, from
the security guard as I walked in the door to the nurse who rolled me to the car when I left, made me feel like I was the only patient there.” At home in Alabama now, she’s back to her active lifestyle with no regrets.
Info: 865-374-PARK or visit TreatedWell.com/orthopedics. Read more detailed story: Covenant Health News-Pam O’Gwynn
Information provided by public relations department of Covenant Health.