Keep going.

Keep working.

Keep climbing, and always keep playing.

With the exceptional orthopedic care at Baptist Health, with a skilled team of dedicated specialists along with advanced services and procedures, it's no wonder most people choose us to help them keep moving and doing the things that move them.

Find a Baptist Health provider today.

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♪ - [Dr. Blankenship]

Patients with orthopedic injuries, usually an acute case, would be one that happens from a specific injury and really needs more of an immediate care as opposed to a chronic injury symptom that's been there for longer.

- [Dr. Bearden]

A lot of patients' first encounters is at the ER or one of our urgent care facilities, and they will get in touch with us directly. And for the most part, you're going to see one of us to further evaluate you one on one in the clinic and then figure out the next steps in your, kind of, treatment and recovery.

- So at the initial appointment, we really try to get a good history and examination of that patient to see what individual care we can provide to that specific patient. Initially, you know, sometimes the patient needs different anti-inflammatory medications, conservative treatments involving immobilizing that body part that's been injured, and oftentimes all these things are done in conjunction with physical therapy or rehabilitation type programs that can be initiated to help the patient.

- So our orthopedic team has a lot of experience and skill treating a broad range of orthopedic problems. I think we can take care of you and provide very high-level care right here in your hometown and in your community.

- I think the fact that here, in Elizabethtown, that we can provide specialized orthopedic care is so important for the community to feel comfortable, close to home, not to have to travel great distances to give great care. ♪ [music]

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So vaginal birth is preferred in most women because it's really as nature intended it. Nature made women to have babies.

I think that with a c section, a lot of times our moms are are hurting because a c section is major surgery, especially if you're trying to breastfeed.

Sometimes you just don't feel up to it. With a vaginal delivery, our moms are breastfeeding, they're up, walking, taking care of their baby, and performing their normal functions.

Our ultimate goal is to have a healthy mom and a healthy baby, however that delivery should occur. But there are some things that mom can do to help prepare her body for a vaginal delivery and help avoid c section.

Spending babies is a technique which involves looking at what stages the position the babies are in and using some techniques where we turn moms in certain positions which help to facilitate opening up the pelvis so babies can take full advantage of the maternal pelvis at each stage of labor.

Spending babies gives us some techniques to help mamas achieve more balance within their body, and that balance really just helps things fit together to fit through the birth canal.

And then just gravity, if you think about just the basic physiologic effects of that, and that gravity helps baby descend into the birth canal and ultimately for delivery. We have seen that it works, and we have seen a significant reduction in our c section rates since implementing the spinning babies program.

Women's health is a very special topic. Classically, women think that they have to go to an OBGYN for their women's health appointments, and that is perfectly reasonable. However, a lot of people don't know you can go to your primary care provider if they're a family medicine physician, and a lot of them will offer women's health. That's the way that I got into it and found my passion for it. Women's health appointments can be kind of what you make of them. They can contain lots of different things, or they can be very simple and straightforward.

For women who are twenty one through the ages of typically sixty five, they can have things like a Pap smear, which is your routine screening for cervical cancer. But for any other women, even with their Pap smear, we can talk about birth control. We can talk about symptoms that you're having related to, you know, abdominal pain or anything discharge, sexual intercourse, things such as diet, exercise, hormonal changes. That is all part of your overall well-being, and women's health can play a huge factor into that.

I actually got into women's health because a lot of women, in the rural area that I did my residency didn't realize that they could go to a family medicine physician for that care. They thought they had to have a separate appointment. And when you live in a rural area, it's really hard to to find those appointments, and it's really hard to access that care. But if you can get all of your care in one place with your primary care provider, such as a family physician, it makes it a lot more convenient to get all of your care in one place.

Here at Baptist Health Richmond on the mother and baby care, unit, we provide a multitude of services for our expectant moms. Our team includes physicians and nurses that have prepared to provide services such as prenatal planning, breastfeeding support, and we offer support for postpartum depression. And we work together with their obstetrician and our behavioral support team to make sure that they feel supported when they go home and to know that some of what they experience is normal and will provide support for treatment if needed once they have delivered baby.

Our department has several nurses that have achieved a lactation counselor certification, and they are here to provide support to the mom after delivery to make her journey as a breastfeeding mom successful and support them. Even once they go home, we are here to support them. They can come back in for a visit. Martie, one of our lead counselors here, offers that. And so she weighs the baby to make sure that mom is getting enough nutrition for her infant. It is important that we offer these services here at Baptist Health Richmond so we can have those important conversation when mom is wanting to get pregnant through her prenatal care and ensuring a safe delivery and a transition home that is good for her and baby.