A Helping Hand

Posted by Kathy Whitney on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 in Around the Medical Center, Fall 2022 .

Approximately 60 Vanderbilt orthopaedics volunteers provided surgical treatment to 15 patients at the sixth annual Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Outreach Day in August. This year’s outreach day was held at the Vanderbilt Surgery Center in Franklin, Tennessee.

Founded in 2017, Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Outreach Day provides orthopaedic surgical treatment for uninsured and underinsured patients in the Middle Tennessee area. Vanderbilt University Medical Center employees provide surgical services, treating subacute and chronic orthopaedic conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger fingers.

These debilitating conditions frequently fall within a medical care gap that is typically not surgically managed in the free clinic or the emergency department setting. Orthopaedics partners closely with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Shade Tree Clinic, as well as other community clinics in the Middle Tennessee area. To date, in five annual Outreach Days, the department has provided free surgeries to 76 patients.