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A Comprehensive Approach to Patient Care
March 03, 2025
Lucinda Kemp had tried physical therapy, regenerative treatments and steroid injections for her knee pain, yet nothing provided lasting improvement. But when the Plant City 71-year-old finally decided it was time for a knee replacement last October, she opted to travel across West Central Florida to be among the first patients treated in the new Comprehensive Total Joint and Revision Center at BayCare’s Mease Dunedin Hospital.
Kemp was drawn by a referral to Dr. Christopher Grayson, medical director of the BayCare Orthopedic Institute who performs surgeries at the hospital. She found that the Comprehensive Care Center not only took care of her in the hospital, but its care followed her all the way back home to Plant City.
Comprehensive Care Centers at BayCare focus on achieving optimal outcomes for patients by delivering exceptional clinical care and an enhanced, streamlined patient experience. Comprehensive Care Centers bring the best physicians and clinicians together who are committed to evidence-based procedures and practices.
Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater recently joined Mease Dunedin Hospital as a Comprehensive Total Joint Center. BayCare hospitals have launched or will soon offer other Comprehensive Care Centers focused on breast cancer, atrial fibrillation, back pain, epilepsy, heart failure and other diagnoses.
“The goal is to be as involved as we can be in the full arc of the patient’s journey, from diagnosis and pre-admission testing, through surgery and recovery to home care,” said Gina Rowland, director of the BayCare Orthopedic Institute. “We want to become destination health care, the best place to come regardless of where you live.”
Kemp has always been active, enjoying walking and hiking, bike riding, chair volleyball and water aerobics. In recent years, severe osteoarthritis made those types of activities more and more difficult, and movement became painful. She felt she was becoming sedentary, and that’s not the way she wanted to live. She ultimately had both knees replaced at Mease Dunedin.
Central to Kemp’s care was nurse navigator Noel Schmidt, whom she met before surgery and who was there through discharge. Schmidt made sure Kemp’s pre-admission testing results were appropriate for surgery and led a comprehensive class for her and other patients that details what they can expect in surgery and recovery. Nurse navigators are also there after surgery, making sure patients have the equipment they need, such as a walker, to optimize recovery.
“I want to give the patients a clear idea of what to expect from beginning to end,” Schmidt said. “They might have anxiety, so I want to answer their questions and put their mind at ease.”
Case management also helped Kemp line up physical therapy at home, scheduling it through the BayCare HomeCare office in Lakeland. Physical therapist Sheila Faduga worked with Kemp twice a week for three weeks and assigned exercises for her to do between visits.
“Sheila was fantastic,” Kemp said. “She worked me really hard, and if I didn’t do it right, she’d have me do it again. BayCare also put together a really nice booklet with lots of pictures that helped me with the exercises.”
Kemp’s recovery has been strong. She said she healed well, with no infections, and her full range of motion returned quickly. She’s climbing stairs “like a normal person,” has returned to chair volleyball and is ready to get her bike out once the weather cooperates. An avid traveler, she has a trip to the Eastern Caribbean scheduled in March and is looking forward to some moderate shore excursions.
Overall, she couldn’t be happier with her journey with BayCare.
“It was the best thing I’ve ever done. It was a well-integrated experience,” she said. “The nurse navigator, the education, nurses on the floor, home health care – they all worked well as a team. It was the best hospital I’ve ever been in.”
For more information: Comprehensive Joint Replacement Centers