Orthopedic clinic expands services despite challenges

BY TARA BOZICK

(434) 791-7981

Dianne Myers couldn’t get out much because of swollen knees and pain.The Chatham resident thought she had lupus for two decades. She found out she actually had rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren’s syndrome when she visited Danville’s new and only rheumatologist, Dr. Sharukh Shroff.

“I got him as soon as he got here,” Myers said. “I needed relief.”

Shroff, who came to Danville Orthopedic Clinic in July 2008, worked with Myers to find the right medication and finally, she is starting to feel better. Her fingers are straightening out and she looks forward to going to church again.

“He’s a blessing. That’s all I can say,” Myers said. “I don’t want him to leave. We need him. Not only do I need him, but everybody else who is suffering from this illness needs him.”

Before coming to Danville, Shroff had been in private practice in Brooklyn, N.Y. Prior to that, he finished his clinical fellowship in rheumatology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in Bethesda, Md.

In his office, he keeps a copy of a signed photo from Mother Teresa, as he volunteered his medical services at Mother Teresa’s home for the destitute — part of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity.

The gratitude and appreciation of his patients impresses upon Shroff.

“Being in Danville has been extremely gratifying on every level for me,” Shroff said. “As a physician, there’s nothing more fulfilling. The community is wonderful here.”

Shroff hopes to fulfill a need for Danville and connect with the community. He was just inducted as a member of Rotary and hopes to serve at the Free Clinic of Danville.

“I hope this is my last stop for life,” Shroff said.

The Danville Orthopedic Clinic on Executive Drive continues offering quality care and expanding services to the Danville area despite challenges.

In 2009, the clinic, with four orthopedists and a rheumatologist, saw more than 35,000 patients, administrator Jon Carter said. The clinic accepts self-pay, private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.

As national legislators debate health care reform, the clinic is seeing an increase in patients who are uninsured or underinsured, Dr. Mark Hermann said. More patients are indigent self-payers or use Medicaid or Medicare.

Clinic doctors also perceive a problem in patients seeking care outside of Danville.

“We’re concerned about that and we’re trying to increase our services to help that situation,” Hermann said. “In spite of the challenges of health care in Danville today, we are continuing to expand our services locally while still providing high quality orthopedic services.”

For instance, Danville Orthopedic Clinic Inc. opened Southside Pain Solutions in February on Memorial Drive with Dr. Eduardo Fraifeld, a pain management physician who is currently taking patients. Fraifeld is also an anesthesiologist.

The clinic also works hard to recruit not just “warm bodies,” but high-caliber health care professionals, Hermann added. Right now, the practice searches for a hand surgeon and a spine surgeon. Physician assistant Matt Babish came from Raleigh, N.C., a month ago.

Dr. Jonathan Krome knows the challenges the local clinic faces are the same as those nationwide: more and more working people cannot afford insurance.

He also sees a “significant emigration” of medical care. Patients come to the local clinic for diagnosis or physical therapy, but they seem to go elsewhere for surgeries, he said.

Yet, it’s hard to evaluate how many people are leaving town when the recession could also have affected patients who may have lost their jobs or whose employers may no longer pay for insurance.

Krome has been in Danville five and a half years after coming from a practice in Rome, Ga. He would like patients to recognize that Danville Orthopedic Clinic continues to offer up-to-date modern standard care in orthopedics. It just received a new ultrasound machine to assist in diagnoses, for instance.

The clinic also offers on-site physical therapy, where the department can confer with surgeons right next door.

That means physical therapists get valuable insight only surgeons can give, like how aggressive therapy can be based on the quality of tissue, physical therapist Joe Nicholson said.

The physical therapy center also shares the same computer system, which enables more efficient communication about rehabilitation.

Garry Thomas, a special agent with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control who lives in Ringgold, had shoulder replacement surgery and comes to Danville Orthopedic Clinic Rehabilitation three days a week.

“I think we’re fortunate to have the people they have here in the Danville area,” Thomas said. “I feel better when I leave.”

Dr. Prentice Kinser founded Danville Orthopedic Clinic at the Masonic Temple in downtown Danville in 1948. The practice moved to Watson Street, then South Main Street and now resides in the Piedmont Regional Medical Center building on Executive Drive.
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Danville Orthopedic Clinic Inc. also maintains a research department that continually serves as a top U.S. site for enrollment in studies to help new drugs get to the market, site manager April Marshall said. That also means participating patients get reimbursed for excellent care as researchers follow them closely.

“We’re here and we’re available,” Dr. Joseph Campbell said. “I like to help people and fix their problems and make them more functional — get them back to work.”

Krome came to Danville because family lives nearby and he saw the orthopedic opportunity, especially with all of the area’s high schools and colleges.

Hermann practiced at the clinic for 20 years and came to Danville because he saw the city’s potential. He thinks Danville just needs to change the view of itself. He currently serves on the board of the Danville Regional Foundation.

“It’s our home where we raise our children and our families and where we can leave a legacy one day and feel proud of what we’ve done,” Hermann said.