When doctors need doctors, they look to Adena

It’s something not many of us may think about, but who does the physician who provides care for our families turn to when he or she needs medical care?

For Neurologist Dr. Michael Jones, the answer is simple – his colleagues at Adena.

Just before Christmas, Dr. Jones did something most of us have done at some point, missing a step on a small staircase while at his home. His knee buckled and he couldn’t get up.

“I knew something bad had happened because I couldn’t straighten my knee and there was pain, but I was more upset because I knew it was something that was probably going to require surgery and a long period of rehab,” said Dr. Jones, who has been an attending physician at Adena for 24 years.

His wife and a neighbor helped him get to an area emergency room, where he could be mobilized enough to could come to Chillicothe and contact someone at Adena. That call went to Dr. James Fleming, Jr., Medical Director of the Adena Orthopedic and Spine Institute, who recommended the services of veteran orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Lesh.

“Dr. Fleming has done an excellent job of recruiting an expert team here, who provide a wide array of orthopedic, sub-specialty training that really allows us to take care of most things that come through the door,” Dr. Jones said.

Dr. Lesh, who brought 23 years in professional practice in Pennsylvania with him when he joined the AOSI last year, said Dr. Jones’ injury is very common among those who have a mishap on stairs or lose their footing in other ways. When the knee hyperflexes, it can tear the quadriceps muscles connected to the kneecap and it’s those muscles that need to be intact in order to straighten the knee and stay upright without the knee buckling.

“It’s like fixing a chain link fence,” Dr. Lesh explained. “We put a new link in so it’s back together the way it should be so when the muscle contracts, it extends the knee and keeps the leg straight when we need it to.”

Dr. Lesh said there’s very little difference for him in treating one of his colleagues in comparison to any other patient – he regularly provided care for other medical staff, former partners and hospital administrators over his previous two decades in practice. The key, regardless of the patient, is that they feel confident they are receiving the best care possible.

Dr. Jones, who actually appears ahead of schedule on his recovery and rehabilitation, said he definitely received that level of care from Dr. Lesh and the team of caregivers from the surgery suite, anesthesiology, nursing and others who were involved with his procedure.

“You can tell it’s a state-of-the-art facility,” he said. “Everything was impressive. The way the components of the different teams worked together to coordinate the effort and ultimately get prepared for surgery, you could tell it was something that was well-rehearsed and well planned out.”

That is a reflection of Adena’s approach to identifying physicians to recruit, said Dr. Jones, who had another positive experience receiving care from his fellow doctors several years ago when he suffered an elbow injury.

“So this isn’t the first time I’ve trusted our providers with my care, and I have a great level of trust with them,” he said. “We go through a series of background checks and take it seriously when we recruit people here for our communities. That’s why I’m an advocate for staying close to home for care.

“I just felt compelled to let others in the community know that our providers here are very good at what we do, both in caring for the community and in caring for each other, too.”

To find a trusted provider for your care, like Dr. Jones did, visit Adena.org/providers or call Adena Orthopedic and Spine Institute at 740-779-4598.