Saint Agnes Medical Center's orthopedic department continues to grow

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- "Early on, we identified that it is an underserved area in the Central Valley for sports and orthopedics, which led us to develop our Orthopedics and Sports Fellowship training program," says Dr. Richard Oravec.

Since then, the Sports Medicine program at St. Agnes Medical Center has grown.

Last year, the program graduated its first fellow, with another set to graduate in June.

Dr. Oravec oversees the program.

"Which is going to increase access to patients eventually because a lot of these fellows, when they graduate, are going to stay here in the Central Valley and provide better care for our patients," he said. "That also keeps us at the pinnacle of medical education."

It's not just about reaching new heights in medical education.

Saint Agnes also utilizes the Mako Robot to help with knee and hip surgery.

"It's helped us do it even more minimally invasively than we were before," says Dr. Matt Knedel. "Makes things more accurate and really helps us customize the knee replacements for our patients."

Dr. Knedel, an orthopedics surgeon at St. Agnes Medical Center, tells Action News that through the Mako Robot, it eases the pain for patients after surgery.

"The robotics helps us minimize damage to those muscles and tendons so that patients can recover faster," he said.

To help people who are dealing with different kinds of joint, muscle or bone pain and need immediate help, there is an ortho urgent care that people can visit.

They can get fracture care to x-ray services.

This year, the hospital's Orthopedic Department received several awards.

Doctors say as the department continues to grow, so does the level of care.

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