At a time in the United States when “60 million rural residents have limited access to orthopedic care due to a small rural orthopedic surgery workforce” (National Library of Medicine, 2021), Gifford continues to invest in orthopedics. In October 2023, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Douglass Weiss joined our team, seeing patients at Gifford Specialty Clinics in Randolph and at Sharon Health Center.
What drew this skilled surgeon, who most recently provided care as a commander with the United States Navy, to small-town Vermont? Our community focus and commitment to providing a standard of care that cannot be compromised because of our zip code.
“I’ve had great opportunities over my career,” said Weiss, who also serves as a team physician with USA Hockey. “I spoke with the staff and administration here, and I felt it was a good fit. Gifford’s mission is in line with my goals of helping people. And I’m from New England, am familiar with this area, and prefer a community-minded hospital like Gifford.”
Gifford has a long history in central Vermont, well over a century. Our core reason for being is to provide access to high-quality health care, including specialty services like orthopedics, to those who live here. That accessibility is key, especially as demand for services increases as our rural population ages and becomes more vulnerable.
“The aging process is associated with an elevated risk of multiple chronic health conditions” (National Library of Medicine, February 2023), and therefore older adults have greater need for chronic management services, specialist services (from cardiovascular medicine to rehabilitation therapy), “and services for mental and psychological distress that usually coexist with chronic physical conditions.”
Here at Gifford, that need for specialized care is met with a dedicated team and locations in Randolph, Berlin and Sharon providing comprehensive services, including general surgery; orthopedics; podiatry; cardiovascular medicine; urology and urogynecology; neurology; OB/GYN; oncology; rehabilitation therapy, including physical, occupational and speech therapies; advanced diabetes care; and radiology.
It’s widely acknowledged that long wait times and inadequate access to specialty care and chronic disease management services adversely impact health outcomes for older people in rural America. By continuing our commitment to offering these services, close to home for our patients, we alleviate physical barriers—e.g., long distances to tertiary hospitals, lack of adequate public transportation—to receiving care.
Patient Perspective
In fiscal year 2023, the team at Gifford performed 1,992 surgical procedures, up 358 from the previous year. One of those procedures was a joint replacement for Dan Bennett, Gifford’s president and CEO, who in November shared his experience with all-staff in his biweekly, internal Monday Morning Memo. “My message today is personal,” he wrote. “Like many of you, I not only work at Gifford, I receive care as a patient. And last week, thanks to Dr. Alex Orem and our skilled orthopedics and surgery teams, I received a new hip.”
This was Bennett’s second hip replacement at Gifford—his first was in 2019—and both experiences reinforced for him a simple fact, he said: “We have an exceptional team here at Gifford.
As I shared years ago when I talked about my experience, my care was excellent, from pre-op to ambulatory care to recovery to physical therapy. Everyone was wonderful, and also provided great communication to my wife, Jane, while I was still under anesthesia. … Like then, I am already back to walking my puppy, Teddy, though he is no longer a puppy.
Thank you to everyone who cared for me through my procedure. Your role and the skills you deliver locally are critically important. Your good work, accessible to our neighbors, family and friends here, in or very close to their hometown, is essential. Additionally, our partners at tertiary hospitals like Dartmouth Hitchcock appreciate the expertise of our team and their capacity to perform procedures like joint replacements, rather than referring their way, as they focus on more major operations.
I am proud to work here, and I am proud to be a part of a team so committed to providing exemplary care at our hometown hospital and clinics.”
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