Andrews Institute Looks Ahead – Inweekly

By Duwayne Escobedo

At a recent press conference in honor of his facilitys 10th anniversary, Dr. James Andrews told the story about the moment he knew the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center partnership with Baptist Health Care would happen.

Baptist Health Care brought its top executives to approach him for a second time in December 2003 about teaming up to start a sports medicine medical center in Gulf Breeze. He had just finished surgery at his Birmingham, Ala., center and welcomed the group into a small adjacent office.

Baptist Health Care CEO, Al Stubblefield envisioned building the Andrews Institute next to Gulf Breeze Hospital and providing its world-class medical care to the community. He was told about Andrews and his celebrity as a top sports orthopaedic surgeon. Stubblefield said, I dont know what an athletic trainer is, but I want some.

However, other Baptist officials werent convinced, especially Baptist Chief Financial Officer Joe Felkner.

During a tour of the Andrews sports medical center in Alabama, Felkner spotted USA Olympic gymnast Blaine Wilson doing rehab on an injured shoulder. Wilson grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and starred on Ohio States gymnastics team. Felkner was a big Buckeyes fanatic.

It was a damn miracle, Andrews said. He always played the bad guy. But right away he said, We got to do this. Thats really how we got the financing done.

A decade later, Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze has made a huge impact on the Florida Gulf Coast region. It is estimated to have an economic impact on the region of tens of millions of dollars. The cutting-edge, world-renowned sports medicine center celebrated its achievements at its 10th anniversary Wednesday in the Andrews Athletic Performance and Research Pavilion.

Its been a magnificent journey for all of us, said Andrews, who thanked local government officials, Baptist executives, his team of more than 50 physicians, and wife, Jenelle. He also singled out longtime friend Jerry Pate and Ed Gray for securing funding from then-Governor Jeb Bush that helped make the Florida center a reality.

The funding allowed Andrews Institute to open the doors to its 126,535-square-foot sports medicine center in April 2007 that feels more like an upscale, luxurious hotel than a hospital. It features an ambulatory surgery center, an athletic performance center, and a research and education center.

Over its first 10 years, Andrews Institute performed more than 6,000 surgeries, provided athletic trainers freely to 25 public high schools from Escambia to Walton County and three area colleges, trained 57 fellows under its top-notch physicians, and worked to develop the next generation of sports medicine tools at its Regenerative Medicine Center.

Not only did it look back at its achievements at the press conference, the sports medicine center looked forward to what the next decade might hold for the institute.

One promising development is the use of stem cells to help speed up the healing process, regenerate tissue, cartilage and organs and lead to other cures for diseases, such as diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.

Dr. Adam Anz, an Andrews orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, is overseeing a stem cell study that starts in May. He said stem cells are five to seven years away from earning FDA approval for medical uses and becoming widely used to treat patients. Stem cells are considered the biggest advance in sports medicine since arthroscopy surgery, which allows physicians to make a small incision on a patient and use a tiny camera to surgically repair knees, rotator cuffs, and other common debilitating sports injuries.

Anz talked excitedly about regenerative medicine. Today, bone marrow aspiration typically produces about 17,000 stem cells, while140 million stem cells come from a variety of regenerative sources, such as embryos, gestational and adult tissues, and reprogrammed differentiated cells.

The FDA is a lot like the IRS, Anz explained. We need to refine and prove to them that they work. There are future products, and they need development.

Andrews agreed. He said: Were still at the tip of the iceberg. Its coming though. Regenerative medicine will revolutionize not only what we do in sports medicine but all surgeries.

Another impact that Andrews Institute has had on the region is its sports medicine outreach to youth. The public service ensures sports medicine coverage freely to all of the public high schools in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties and has plans to expand to other Northwest Florida counties, including Bay County. It includes performing baseline concussion tests for more than 4,500 youth athletes since 2015.

Only 37 percent of public high schools have a full-time athletic trainer, reports the NATA Research and Education Foundation.

Andrews led a charge in 2015 in the Florida Legislature to require all Florida High Schools to have at least one athletic trainer. But the legislation never passed.

Its getting to where it will be a medical legal issue, Andrews predicted. Right now my passion is youth sports.

Dr. Roger Ostrander was one of the first orthopaedic surgeons to relocate to Gulf Breeze in July 2004.

When I got here in 2004, I didnt understand the scope and magnitude of this project. Its unique in the country, Ostrander said. I feel very fortunate to be part of Andrews Institute from the beginning.

Andrews Institute By the Numbers 2007-2017 650,000+ Visits to Andrews Institute Rehabilitation location since 2008 61% Increase in patient volume since 2008 228,000+ X-ray and MRI exams completed since 2007 50,864 Patients/Cases seen at the Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center 303% Increase in patient volume since 2007 20,000 Free pre-participation exams performed 68,500 Injury assessments performed 1,800 Injury assessments performed at Saturday morning Student-Athlete Injury Clinic 4,500 Concussion baseline tests performed since 2015 400 Community events with Andrews Institute sports medicine coverage 84 Clinical research studies conducted over the last 10 years 19 Open clinical research studies from July 2015 to June 2016 112 Wounded or injured Special Operations military members treated from July 2015 to June 2016

Read the original here:
Andrews Institute Looks Ahead - Inweekly