Imagine playing pickleball when your foot suddenly gives out and you collapse on the court. Your friends help you get up, but you can’t walk without their assistance. They help you hobble to a car, but where should they take you?
In the past, they would have taken you to the emergency room of the closest hospital where you most likely would have waited for hours to be seen by a general emergency room physician. Your injury would be assessed, the foot wrapped, and a referral would be made to see an orthopaedic surgeon if necessary.
“Now you can bypass the emergency room and go directly to Orthopaedic Urgent Care with an acute orthopaedic injury, where you’ll be treated immediately by a fellowship trained, sub-specialty orthopaedic physician,” said Jennifer Davison Rossmell, CEO of Vero Orthopaedics. “Not only do you get immediate access but with insurance it will only cost you your co-pay, and even with no insurance it will cost you substantially less than an emergency room visit.”
By adding the urgent care component to its campus, Vero Orthopaedics gives patients another option for orthopaedic care. Patients with non-acute injuries can still call their main number before 3 o’clock and be guaranteed an appointment to see a provider that day, as stated in their motto ‘hurt today – treat it today’. But for those with urgent orthopaedic injuries, Orthopaedic Urgent Care now offers walk-in, immediate care for conditions like back pain, sprains or strains, closed fracture, minor dislocations of finger and toes, tennis elbow and other sports injuries, foot and ankle injuries, cast and wound care and painful, swollen or injured joints.
“Our goal is to do everything possible to take care of our patients and give them open access so they can get the care they need when they need it,” Alan Darby, COO of Vero Orthopaedics, said. “It speaks directly to our mission statement and vision of the company – to provide access to affordable sub-specialized orthopaedic care. The need is obviously here because during our two-week dry run we’ve already had 31 patients and we had 14 just yesterday.
“Access to urgent care is no different than going in for an appointment on the bottom floor of Vero Orthopaedics,” Darby continued. “When an urgent patient comes in, they are met by an intake person to make sure their insurance is part of our program and verify that we are able to treat their condition. The patient is then added to the current workflow of our physicians and worked into rotation as quickly as possible. We will always have one of our fellowship-trained, sub-specialty physicians available for urgent care patients.”
It’s important to note that if an ambulance is called, paramedics are required to take you to a hospital emergency room and cannot be directed to Orthopaedic Urgent Care.
Vero Orthopaedics moved into its 66,000-square-foot building in August 2021 and has continued expanding its services ever since. The company’s campus houses 68 exam rooms, four procedure rooms, three radiology suites and three operating rooms. They also have MRI machines, and physical and occupational therapy services. With a staff of 15 fellowship trained physicians, nine physician assistants and nurse practitioners, and nearly 120 support personnel, they treat an average of 700 patients a day.
“We plan on bringing an additional two to three physicians this year and expanding our second-floor space to include a 7,000-square-foot Hand Treatment Suite which will include our Occupational Therapy Team,” Rossmell continued. “We are continually growing to meet the demands of the community; however, my goal is to never lose sight of the most important component to the success of our practice, and that is providing the best possible care to our patients.”
Orthopaedic Urgent Care initially opened on a three-day-a-week schedule and has already expanded to five days a week – Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The plan is to eventually be open seven days a week with extended evening hours in the near future.
You can get immediate help for a bone, joint or muscle injury by walking (or hobbling) into Orthopaedic Urgent Care at 3955 Indian River Blvd. in Vero Beach or calling the direct line at 772-774-7100. You can also call or text Vero Orthopaedics’ main number: 772-569-2330.
