Orthopaedic care is kind of like dental care or eye care--it's not something you probably think about until you need it. At Anniston Orthopaedic Associates, we have several ways in which we care for patients--physical therapy, in-office care, surgery, sports medicine. It's the sports medicine "branch" of our practice that often involves younger patients. Typically, our sports medicine revolves primarily around high school athletes. These young men and women are getting up early, staying up late, and missing precious days of carefree summer in order to train and compete in their sports to represent their school.

This sacrifice brings competition, comradarie, and a lot of fun. But it is not without potential risk.

Tiffany Messer is the mom of a high school athlete who was injured on the practice field and found himself in need of surgery. What started like any other day, abruptly changed when Shawn Seeger, Anniston Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Director, called Ms. Messer. "(Shawn) had already retrieved a picture of my son's arm and called Dr. Vandervoort. When we arrived at the hospital, we were treated with care and efficiency."

What would you expect next? To be x-rayed and then wait several hours for a surgeon to arrive? That was not the experience Tiffany and Luke Messer had. "As my son was being x-rayed, Dr. Vandervoort came in to assist in getting specifically what he wanted pictures of," says Ms. Messer. "He was kind and he was soft-spoken, which is important when you are in pain."

When the x-rays were read, it was clear that Luke needed surgery. Again, perhaps you might expect that one would recieve this information and then a surgeon wouldn't be seen or heard from again until it was time to wheel the patient into the operating room. But again...that was not the case. Ms. Messer explains, "He (Dr. Vandervoort) didn't tell us this (surgery was needed) and then just disappear. He kept with us and kept contact up until the time of the surgery and even then, he walked beside Luke's bed."

Luke's surgery went well and today, he's back to normal. You'd likely never know he had been injured. But a lasting mark was made on the heart of a concerned mom. "When you have a great experience in a time of chaos, you share with the hope that someone will hear your testimony and realize that if chaos interrupts their day due to a sports injury, they can be assured that help can be found at Anniston Orthopaedics."

And Tiffany wasn't the only one who noticed a difference at Anniston Orthopaedics. Luke shared his own perspective with us, as well: "Dr. Vandervoort isn't just a nice doctor, he's the nicest man I've ever met."