Let's DISH about Orthopedic Specialists

Transcription:

Gina Schnathorst: Welcome to the Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics' ISH Dish Podcast, practical Health Advice from Iowa Specialty Experts. We want to connect the members of our communities with the latest healthcare information that's understandable, relatable, and useful to your daily life. I am super excited for this guest today. I think you're the first one we've had from Orthopedic Specialist in Fort Dodge.

Matthew Moritz: Really? That is exciting.

Host: So, welcome. We are talking today to Matt Morris, and you seem to wear a lot of hats.

Guest: I do. I do And the older I get, the more I seem to find and put on. So, it's exciting.

Host: I think it's supposed to be the other way around. You get older, you take hat off...

Guest: No. You got to stay fresh. You got to keep it fresh.

Host: Keep it relevant.

Guest: That's right.

Host: Exactly. Okay. So if we're talking about all the hats you wear, let's talk about the first one. You are heavily involved in the Fort Dodge community and the schools, correct?

Guest: Yeah. I really felt compelled within the last five, 10 years to be as involved as possible in the community. The community has offered me and my family so much, it just really felt like a good time for me to give back. So, I've done that in a number of different ways. I volunteer a lot with the schools. So, we are pretty heavily involved with the sports medicine component of both the school districts. So, we offer a lot of free services to the schools. So, we do a lot of event coverage, sports physicals. But I took the plunge and jumped on the school board here about three or four years ago. So, that has been an education.

Host: Have you enjoyed that position?

Guest: It's great. And at the end of the day, somebody's got to do it. It can be thankless at times, but it's been a good opportunity for me to give back to the community and I really have liked it. It's been a good experience.

Host: That's great. So, let's back up just a little bit. Let's talk about what is your position at Orthopedic Specialists in Fort Dodge?

Guest: So, traditionally, I have been a 50/50 split with clinic and surgery. There was a little more of a demand on the clinic side of things. So about three months ago, I transitioned to a primarily clinic-only role. I still dabble in surgeries, do some trauma stuff and fill in for other providers that aren't available. So, I do still get my surgical opportunities, which is great. I still like to keep that skill set up, but been pretty busy in the clinics and there was just a little bit more of a demand there. So, it felt like a transition we needed to take to keep up with that.

Host: What is your official title at the clinic? What is your credential?

Guest: I am a certified physician assistant.

Host: Physician assistant. Okay. And you primarily assist whom in the surgery?

Guest: All of them.

Host: All of them? Okay.

Guest: Yeah, all of our surgeons.

Host: Okay. How do they choose? That must be a scheduling nightmare.

Guest: You know what, sometimes that's the most challenging part of the job, is trying to figure out who to put where.

Host: Right.

Guest: And I think the people that are in charge of that will tell you that that can be pretty challenging. So, we do our best to rotate and make sure we're filling in for each other and covering for each other. But we all work for all of our surgeons. So, we rotate and it's just the best way to make sure that everybody has a similar exposure.

Host: Cool. And speaking of surgeries at Orthopedic Specialists, we have a robot now, Rosa.

Guest: We do, yes.

Host: Is that what you affectionately call her?

Guest: I think everybody's got a name for her, good, bad or indifferent. But it's been a great opportunity. I think it's cutting edge.

Host: And just to clarify for the public, because I know we've had a lot of questions about this, Rosa does not do the actual cutting, correct? It's a guidance tool more so?

Guest: That's correct. So when patients ask me about my thoughts, I say, to me, the most important thing, regardless is going to be your surgeon. He's still driving the bus or, in this scenario, the robot. So, it is a good way for everybody in the room, obviously, especially the surgeon, to make sure that these cuts are precise. So even somebody like Dr. Li, who's done thousands and thousands of these operations has yet another way that he can take a look, measure twice, cut once and Rosa is a third measurement tool that we can use in that setting to make sure that we are putting out the best product possible.

Host: Yeah, I think that's a great clarification because it seemed like when we introduced Rosa initially, there was some trepidation about the robot actually cutting into you...

Guest: Yeah, that's a scary concept for a lot of people.

Host: It is. Yeah. So knowing that that's not the case is--

Guest: It's comforting.

Host: It is. Yeah. Good word. Absolutely. Oh, and then we just DNV.

Guest: Yes.

Host: You want to talk about that a little bit?

Guest: You know, we are, from what I understand, the only and first in the state to get this certification. So, we are obviously excited about it and it looks great on paper. And it's probably good for advertising. But at the end of the day, I don't think people really understand how good and clean you have to be to get this kind of a certification and the work that goes into on everybody's behalf. It's not just a designation for our surgeon, it's really a designation for our team as a whole. And so, it is just to be able to tell people how much work goes into that. It's just something we are super proud of and just another feather in our hat that's well deserved by the entire staff honestly.

Host: Absolutely. And I think if anybody listening wants more information on that, we did splash a bunch of information on the orthopedic website. So, you can go out there and look at ishorthopedics.com, there's information all over, or even the iowaspecialtyhospital.com website.

So, we talk about the gigantic certification that you deserve and we're honored to have all the staff. So, I have kind of a voice, kind of an ear, I guess, if you will, to the public. And I hear a lot of people saying something about the hometown orthopedic team. And obviously, I think that is us. If you want to talk about the hometown team, that's Orthopedic Specialists because you've been there for years as a whole.

Guest: Yeah, I think if you take a look at the majority of our providers, especially in our group, we've been in these communities for 20, 30 years. So, this is the place that I call home. My family's here, my friends are here. And the same is true of our providers. We've been embedded in these communities for, like I said, 20 to 30 years. So as far as hometown, I don't know how you get more hometown than that.

Host: Yeah, I don't either. I think it's just the coolest thing ever. I think that stability goes a long way toward patient satisfaction. I mean, just knowing that you're always there and there's not a lot of changing of the guard or any of that going on is very comforting, like you said before.

Guest: Yeah. And, you know, these are the people you see at the Hy-Vee and out to dinner. It's the same faces that you see. And of course, we do some consults in the Fairway aisle and stuff like that. But, you know, that's all part of it. And sometimes my family just kind of rolls their eyes when we through there because I get little off track at times. But like I said, it's all part of being in the community. And those are the things that I take pride in.

Host: Yeah. And I think it's really cool too to note just because you're here and we're talking about it, we do a lot of joint replacements, a lot of knee replacements, a lot of hip replacements. We excel in that area, absolutely. But all of those people that come to the hospital, go through a program. And they get a book and they have therapy together, they're little groups of people that have surgery together. They have therapy together. And then at, one time during the year, we have a joint reunion party where we bring all of those people back to celebrate the fact that they can dance and walk and do all the things. You guys even served the food.

Guest: Yeah.

Host: It's amazing.

Guest: Again, and it's something I think we all like to do. It's an opportunity for us to say thank you because these people made a choice. And it's not who's going to provide your internet, it's who's going to take you through this giant procedure. I mean, it's a big deal. So, we understand how important it is that they chose us and what that means. And it's one of the ways that we're able to say, "Hey, we get it. We truly appreciate the fact that you chose us." And it's one way that we can make sure these people know how important that is to us.

Host: That's great. Wonderful. So, you made a little switch from being a surgical assist, right? To more clinic time now.

Guest: Yep.

Host: So, what kind of patients are you seeing in the clinic?

Guest: So, traditionally, from an orthopedic standpoint, obviously, it's a lot of arthritis. We certainly see a lot of acute things, fractures, sprains strains and all the sports med. With a background in athletic training, obviously I take all of that I can get. But really in this area it's bread and butter orthopedics, you know. We don't super specialize in anything in particular. So, it's pretty much head to toe orthopedics. Lately, been branching out a little bit into some corporate health, Workers' Comp patients, which has been fun. Even a little bit into the urgent care, which I'm still surprised that I agreed to.

Host: There goes another hat.

Guest: But you know, like I said, you got to pick the hat up when it's on the ground. And so, I've done my best. Fortunately, the staff that runs that clinic has been critical to me being able to even consider seeing patients that come in to our office for urgent care.

Host: I've been working over there as the marketing leader for the hospital. I've been working there once a month just to try to get to know people better and just to see how your operation runs. I shouldn't be surprised, and maybe that's not the right word to use, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how busy it is there. And not like so busy, I don't want to mislead anybody thinking, "Well, you're never going to get in." It's just a steady, because I don't know how else to say this, people love you guys.

Well, and I think that's a testament to the service that we've provided over, again, the 20 to 30 years that we've been there, that we don't have a huge turnover, so we're able to streamline and really make it a well-oiled machine. So, it's controlled chaos. But I just feel like we've got it dialed in and think that's part of our success, is putting out a good product, right? Because, you know, it doesn't matter how many people you get out the door, if you don't have a good product, they're not coming back.

Absolutely.

Guest: So, I think what you see there is just the epitome of us just providing a good service.

Host: Good. Anything else? Any words of wisdom that you'd like to add?

Guest: No, I don't. That's a hat I don't have.

Host: I don't have all day.

Guest: I got nothing for you. You're going to have to find somebody else for that.

Host: All right.

Guest: But no, this is fun. I appreciate the opportunity.

Host: Absolutely. So if anybody wants to make an appointment to see you or anybody else over there, even for a consult.

Guest: No referrals.

Host: It's not that you call and automatically you're into surgery. We can just have a visit, right?

Guest: Absolutely. And I think between three PAs and four surgeons, the opportunities are endless, the locations are endless. So, yeah, you can just give us a call and we will work around your schedule and location.

Host: Okay. Well I'm going to give those little tidbits then. If you want to call to make an appointment to see either Matt or anybody on the staff or just actually come in for a consult, maybe you just have some questions that need to be answered, the phone number is (515) 955-6767. Or if you are internet savvy, go ahead and look us up at ishorthopedics.com and you will find everything you need to know there. They even have a cool chart where you can pinpoint your pain, it's kind of interactive and, you know, "My shoulder's bugging me," just click on that and here comes this plethora of information. So, kind of cool. I like toys like that.

Guest: Yeah.

Host: So, all right. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Appreciate it.

Guest: Thank you. It was fun.

Host: Yeah. Good. I'm glad.

Thank you for listening to Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics' ISH Dish Podcast. For more information on the topics we discussed today, visit us on the web at iowaspecialtyhospital.com. There, you can read a transcript of today's episode or previously aired episodes, as well as get the latest news from Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics and explore all of the services that we offer. For the ISH Dish Podcast, I'm Gina. Thanks for tuning in.