September 27, 2023 • 23 mins
Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center - your leader in advanced spine health and orthopedic services. Led by the renowned Dr. Jocelyn Idema, our fellowship-trained and board-certified spine and orthopedic surgeon, we specialize in minimally invasive spine surgery and innovative, evidence-based treatments for a multitude of back and neck issues.
Whether you're in Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, Washington, PA, or even Florida, comprehensive spine and orthopedic care is never far away.https://www.steelcityspine.com/
Whether you're in Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, Washington, PA, or even Florida, comprehensive spine and orthopedic care is never far away.https://www.steelcityspine.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Hey, and welcome in. Thisis the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell,let's say hello to doctor Jocelyn Itema.
Good morning, Thank you for joiningme, Thank you for having me.
Tell me everything we need to knowabout Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center.
Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center hasbeen opened since June of twenty twenty.
We offer three different locations, onein the Washington area, one in Upper
(00:30):
Saint Clair, and one in themckeys Rocks area. And you also have
one in Florida too. We do. Yes, it's fabulous. Still tell
us everything we need to know.So, Steel City Spine and Northopedic Center
is basically your one stop shop foranything orthopedic. I do specialize in necks
and backs. That's my primary sourceand that's what I did my fellowship in.
(00:50):
But we also take care of arthriticknees, fractures, sports injuries,
pretty much, you name it.We do have walk in hours as well
on Mondays and Fridays for our CanWarriors. All right, so tell us
who's your typical patient. My typicalpatient any varies anywhere between your twenty three
year old who got injured during CrossFitto your hockey player that he had injured
(01:11):
in the boards over the weekend,probably hit by one of my sons or
my daughter. And also your seventyand eighty year old that are having trouble
walking, having back pain, neckpain. We also have patients that have
been involved in motor vehicle accidents thatwe see. So it's it's a wide
variety, all right. So whenit comes to what is what do you
(01:33):
see on a normal day to daybasis what kind of what kind of ailments
do you see? So discarniations,neck and back, sprain strains, arthritic
knees, just your sprain strain,ankles, pretty much anything. I do
prefer to see neck and back.But we won't turn anybody away because the
(01:53):
first part of what it says isorthopedic spine surgeon. All right, So
you're a surgeon, so that meansthe a lot of this is an invasive
surgery, but it is a justno. So actually I try and avoid
surgery. Yes, I like tocut, but only when it is necessary.
So we will exhaust all other conservativeand interventional options prior to heading to
(02:16):
surgery. And we do offer thoseinjections and those treatments right at the office.
All right. You started your practicein June of twenty twenty, Yes,
right in the middle of the pandemic. What kind of things did you
face during that Well, startup wasvery difficult, and then a lot of
(02:37):
the offices were still sort of closed, so we were having trouble finding places
to be before we really got establishedat our offices that we currently are at.
All right, So, how manypatients do you see on a weekly
basis with help? I do havea physician assistant. Her name is Blaine,
and I also have a nurse practitionerwho's starting and her name is Brittany.
(02:58):
Together we see about two hundred andfifty patients a week a week,
Yeah, it's combined. Combined,I see about thirty to forty patients a
day, and I'm in the officethree times a day or three times a
week, be harder, three timesa day. Two hundred and fifty patients
a week. I just can't imaginethat that's there's that many problems with people.
(03:22):
I know, I've had back problemsin the past, and so you
know, people are it's really aproblem. It's almost it's almost a pandemic.
Yeah, it's an epidemic. Reallyyeah, so what what what's the
simplest solution and what is the mostdifficult solution. Simplest solution is patient comes
in, they really haven't had anytreatment. There's nothing neurologic that we're considering
(03:47):
that that's a concern. They goto physical therapy and that's really the people
that I partner with huge because eightyfive to ninety percent of people will get
better or even be cured by goingto physical therapy. So that's the first
step. What is the cause isAmerican lifestyle. It's a little bit of
everything. It can be. Youknow, patients are trying something new that
(04:10):
they haven't done before, or it'sa it's a chronic injury. I see
a lot of old men that arestill trying to whack that golf ball just
as far and as hard as theycan. But as you age, things
aren't as flexible and so they'll pullsomething or they'll injure something. But given
time and anti inflammatories, ice heat, they get better. But you also
(04:30):
own a gym. This is correct. So yes, we have had the
privilege of partnering with Professor Kelton.He's out of Duquesne. He's part of
Sports I always get this wrong becauseI don't want to say it sports science,
not sports medicines. So these arethe people who for our elite athletes
(04:57):
that want to become better at theirgame sports like soccer or football or baseball,
any of that sort of stuff.We have a gym setup very similar
to what the Penguins have, butwe offer that to athletes that are not
part of the NBA or the NHL. They might be able to see these
(05:18):
type of things at Division one,such as the force plates that we have.
These are the only ones in thearea. And what that means is
it monitors how much pressure are youputting on each foot every time you lift,
how fast are you able to pullthat bar? And in that way
we're able to measure are you makingprogress? And it's actual data that the
(05:41):
athletes can see. And what's whendid this start? This has only been
open for about about a month rightnow, okay, so what have you
learned in the short time that you'vehad this open. Well, patients are
very well athletes, I should saypatients, but athletes are very happy with
it, and so word of mouthis getting there. But we really would
like to offer this too as manyteams as possible, So we have reached
(06:03):
out to like Upper Saint Clair HighSchool and in the Bethel area because that's
where the the gym actually is isin the Upper Saint Clair are all right,
So tell me about your background.So I actually am the youngest of
three. I have two older brothers, which is probably the reason I chose
orthopedics hanging out with my brothers,who you you didn't stop playing unless you
(06:27):
were actually either bleeding or hurt.And I'm the baby. Yeah, my
brothers are eight and ten years olderthan I am. So I grew up
out in Utah, so a lotof outdoor sports, hiking, mountain biking,
skiing. I was actually told Icouldn't ski the last four years of
my high school because I was avery high level swimmer and they didn't want
me knocked out by having an aclterror fracture. And then I decided to
(06:53):
graduate early from high school actually toget out of Utah. No offense to
the state, but just wanted toand ended up at Gettysburg. And the
reason I ended up at Gettysburg isbecause I wanted to be big fish in
little pond. I got offered Cornelland Stanford to go swim for them and
have a scholars Yes, absolutely,yeah, Unfortunately never saw one. Did
(07:15):
seek it out, but didn't didn'tfind any. I think I scare them
off, so ghost Hunters is probablynot going to come for me to host.
But then after Gettysburg, I wentto Johns Hopkins because they had a
thirteen month course to become a BSNSo I started out as a nurse and
(07:35):
then quickly discovered I don't take ordersvery well, so I wanted to be
the one giving orders. So Iended up in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia College
of Osteopathic Medicine, and at thetime didn't really know the difference between a
doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and an MD. So there's alapas an osteopaths, and
(07:55):
I just like the whole concept ofthe osteopathic mindset better. Well, not
only are you a surgeon, butyou're also a business person. You're a
businesswoman, you're a you're a Sothat is doubly impressive. Thank you.
Yeah, that was that was necessity. So the way that things kind of
transpired in the pandemic were places we'rehaving to kind of close down. They
(08:18):
were having to cut down on theamount of staff that they had. So
since I was the last one hired, I was the first one let go.
So I didn't want to leave thearea. And I had a very
good following as far as patients,so that facilitated, Well, I'll just
start my own business and we'll gofrom there. In your specialty, how
many how many women are in yourfield? So in orthopedics girls, girls?
(08:43):
I don't know if I'm allowed touse that word anymore. Women make
up about ten percent nowadays, butthey usually go into subspecialties that are more
women friendly, such as a handor pediatrics or footnankle. Those of us
that go into fine a lot moreselective. We make up about two to
(09:03):
one percent of the entire population.And then on top of that, how
many women then own their own businessA lot less than that because in today's
world it's be bought by the biggercompanies and work as a group, such
as under Hi Mark and UPMC,such as in Pittsburgh. So do you
see yourself as a unique person,a unicorn of sorts? I don't,
(09:26):
but I keep being told that Iam. So that's just who I've always
been. I don't go the normalroutes it's not an insult. No,
no, no, I'm not takingit as insult. But I don't I
don't personally see myself as that special. It's just there's something that needs to
be done. Okay, I cando that. Let's go do it.
Well. It's important for girls,and I mean girls, young women to
(09:46):
see women like you not only beingsuccessful as a surgeon, but as a
businesswoman and entrepreneur, and that combinationis very unique. That's a you should
be proud of that distinction. Thankyou, I appreciate. So what is
your biggest challenge? Our biggest challengeis knowing having people know that I'm out
(10:07):
there, that I am an option, and this is one of the ways
to try and do that. Ido have a good foundation. I've been
here for seven years in the Pittsburgharea, so we have a good foundation.
But with all the other things thatwe can offer, such as the
minimally invasive techniques, the motion preservationtechniques that I use, meaning that I'm
not fusing a person's necker back,We're trying to maintain motion. These are
(10:31):
all options that not everyone in thisarea has, not every surgeon in the
area has, So I'm going totry to answer. Ask this question very
delicately, what is it like fora woman like you? Who who's doing
what you do facing the quote unquotethe big boys. And when I say
(10:56):
big boys, that means you know, the big companies. Yeah, So
what is what is that? Andwhat's what's your marketing strategy? It is
challenging because they have a lot moreyou know, advertising behind them. They
they are able to get out toa wider audience than I am. Actually,
my biggest form of marketing are mypatients. My patients are my walking
(11:18):
billboards. You know. If apatient comes to me has severe pain,
they go to church, they goto their grocery store, they go to
their book club. Oh my gosh, you look amazing. I thought you
had certain didn't you have back surgery? You had back surgery by doctor Itema.
I feel wonderful. I haven't feltthis good in years. I'm actually
able to play with my grandchildren.I'm able to go back to golf.
(11:39):
I'm able to do this, thatand the other thing. That, to
me, is worth more than anyamount of marketing that I could, you
know, put out there in theworld. So what other testimonials do you
hear from your patients. It's alot of word of mouth, and it's
a lot of in all honesty,she actually sat down and listened. You're
(12:01):
the first person that's actually taken thetime to look me in the eyes and
listen to what pain I'm having,what I've gone through, what I've already
tried, what other people have blownme off or told me to go do.
And you actually showed me my films, my x rays, my MRIs.
I can't believe how many people tellme, oh, well, I
(12:22):
was told, well did they showyou? No, No one's ever shold
me my films. Why that's yourbody. You should know what's going on.
You made ununderstand. That's my job. My job is to tell you
what's going on and why it's affectingyou the way that it is. So
how did that become normalized to notdo it? I have no idea,
because I mean, it's a dailyoccurrence. Multiple patients will say, this
(12:46):
is the first time that someone's physicallytouched me for an examination and gone through
my films with me. That makesno sense. It doesn't make sense.
But at the same time, weas a population of doctors, have been
told we're going to cut your reimbursement. You have to see more patients to
(13:07):
be more lucrative. And I thinka lot of physicians have said, well,
then I'm just going to go inand tell the patient what we're doing
and leave. Really, Yeah,it's disappointing, yes, So what is
the status of your profession then?I mean, if if they're not actually
seeing the patients or talking to them, or hearing them or letting them see
their their X rays and things likethat, what does that say about that
(13:33):
that part profession? Yeah, yeah, I think that's why you see a
lot of patients. Well, socialmedia is so big now that they'll go
and say I wasn't listened to,or patients will end up doctor bouncing because
they're not getting what they want fromone. So that didn't work, Let
me try somebody else, Let metry somebody else. And so a lot
(13:54):
of patients will be very frustrated.And in my business, we're seeing chronic
pain. You wake up in pain, you go to bed in pain.
So patients are kind of grumpy.And so my girls who work in the
office, I always tell them justremember if you have a bad day,
that's one thing, But these peopleare in constant pain. So don't take
(14:15):
it personal if they come in andthey're a little snippy, But we'll work
through that. We'll get through that. But yeah, I think that's why
we see a lot of patients doctorbouncing because they're just not being felt like
they're validated, they're not being heard. You have a number of locations here
in Pittsburgh and in Florida, Sowhat's the future. Well, the future,
I think is really one of theoptions for Florida. So there's a
(14:41):
lot of patients down there that needback surgery or neck surgery, and it's
an older population and the techniques thatwe're using now is basically an outpatient.
The days of you going into thehospital and staying three to five days should
really be behind us. We havemuch better techniques, We have much better
(15:03):
instrumentation as well as pain control techniquesthat it should be more of. You
get what you need done and yougo home. And I think that's one
of the options that is kind oflacking in Florida. So we're trying to
bring that to that population. Allright, So tell me how you have
decided to give back to the community. So both my son and my daughter
play for the Pittsburgh Penn's Elite.We were lucky enough to do that,
(15:26):
so we actually volunteer a lot oftime with them on the sidelines. I
kind of provide services if needed ifpeople get injured. We're also very active
with Peters Township that's where we live, so we do volunteer and donations to
the Peters hockey and lacrosse and football. You are a swimmer in high school.
(15:48):
Were you a swimmer in college aswell? I was what did you
learn about athletics and how when youhave a gym and you're seeing patients and
you know the physiology of athletes.Yes, so that do use that experience
a deathly to help these patients.I do so. The mechanism of the
(16:10):
injury is one of the biggest thingsto break down for a patient, especially
if you're seeing them for the veryfirst time. They haven't gone to an
urgent care, they've gotten X raysor anything like that. So the mechanism
of injury and your physical examination willgive you a lot of information as far
as yeah, you know what,I think, this is an ACL tear.
You know, we need to goright to an MRI. We need
to put them into a brace.But it's also the mindset of an athlete
(16:33):
who wants to get back to theirsport. Right, let's the number one
question. I'm hurt, but whencan I get back? What do I
need to do to get back?As a high level athlete and married to
a high level rugby player, Iunderstand that. So there's a balance between,
Okay, we need to take careof this, but what can we
do while you're waiting. If thisis a leg injury, we can still
(16:55):
do upper body, We can stilldo core to keep you ready to get
back into that sport. Okay,I got a question for you, and
this may not be included. Whydo you think so few women go into
this field? It is not exactlywoman friendly, to be honest, frankly.
(17:18):
So when I went through med school, you have to do audition rotations
through orthopedics, and I would showup the only woman with five other males
and had to put myself out there, stay later, show up earlier.
But there was also the I can'treally talk around her. Well, the
(17:41):
benefit for me was I was aroundthree males, so there was not any
sort of locker room talk that Ihad not heard, so in all honesty,
I would throw out something just tobreak the ice and they'd be like,
did she just say that? Okay, everything's cool. But I still
had advisors and upper level attendings thatdidn't want a woman there. And I
(18:10):
actually had one of the program directorsget right in my face and say women
don't belong in orthopedics. Don't botheryou know, applying. Okay, Well,
then it was still the male dominatedfield. Is that is that becoming
passe depends on where you are,yes and no. So I actually broke
(18:36):
into my internship. I went toOklahoma for my orthopedic internship and they hadn't
taken a woman in over twenty fiveyears. And the previous woman god lover
I got to meet her was inthe military, so their idea of a
woman was more like Gi Jane.So when I showed up, I didn't
have a name. For the firstsix months, I was Orthochick. That
(18:59):
was Orthochick. She's the girl thatgot accepted to orthough. I enjoyed it
because I was doing what I liketo do. Yeah, you had the
occasional misogynist whatever, You'd let thatroll off your back, because if you
get to that point, if you'vemade it all the way through med school,
and you decide you want to dosomething that's been male dominated for a
(19:21):
while. If you can't let thingsroll off your back, you are going
to be miserable and you might aswell have just been a general surgeon and
not enjoyed your life. Is thisyour passion? It is? It is
that and being a mom, whichalso makes it very very difficult. You
know, I've got I'm an ownerof a business. I got to make
sure that my employees are doing whatthey're supposed to do. I got to
(19:42):
make sure I'm doing the best thatI'm doing as far as a surgeon and
outcomes. And then I still wantto be there for, you know,
both of my kids activities and bea mom and all those sorts of things.
So it's very full, but it'svery fulfilling as an amazing a role
model for your children, though,I think so. I think so.
(20:03):
It shows my son that he canhave a strong willed woman who's going to
be his equal, and it alsoshows my daughter that there are no limits.
She can do anything she wants todo. Did you come from a
family of medicine. No. Icame from a family of an entrepreneur.
My dad was the CEO of hisown business for over thirty years. He
(20:26):
wanted to go to med school,and I think that's why my first word,
according to him, was patella andnot mom or dad. My brothers
are very exceptional. My oldest brotheris an architect. My second oldest brother
has a PhD in computer science.So I mean, we're all high.
What about your kids. Are theyold enough to think that maybe they're going
to try their hand at medicine?Oh? Absolutely not, no, no
(20:52):
no. So these poor things havebeen drug to what we call rounding.
So ever since I was in medicine, I would have to go and round
on patients, well my husband working. I would have to take them in
the stroller push him around. Mydaughter, we tease her every once in
a while that I had a patientin the hospital that I had to pull
the pins out of her wrist becausewe had done surgery and they needed to
(21:15):
come out, and she started cryingand my son was like, Mommy,
don't hurt that lady. So yeah, and they've also seen on. One
of the stories that I like totell to other people that are thinking about
doing this is my son was aboutsix, my daughter was about three,
and my son was like Mommy,can you read me a story tonight before
(21:36):
I go to bed? Oh?Yeah, absolutely, Go Go grab your
snuggie, go grab your book andI'll meet you in there. While I
was on call and I got Paigeto a little girl who had broken her
arm and I had to go inand set it and put a cast on
it. So I changed into myscrubs. And my kids know that when
I'm in scrubs that means Mommy's leaving. So I went in and gave him
a kiss, and he goes,where are you going? I said,
(21:56):
well, I have to go tothe hospital. Little girl got injured.
And he goes, why are otherkids more important than we are? And
as I'm driving to the hospital,I'm like, is this the knife in
my back and in my heart rightnow? And so I called my husband
later I said is he okay?He says, oh, he was fine.
I read him a book an hewent to bed. Now the flip
(22:17):
side of that, when my daughterwas old enough, she was like,
my mom piece out, Oh maybemaybe it sounds like she has the you
know, you know, she hasthe the the personality of doing what you
do, maybe well in a way, so she has uh made inclinations that
(22:40):
she would like to be a veterinarian, and so I think, yeah,
I'd be okay with that. Allright, if somebody needs your services,
the website and what what do youhave on your on your website. So
the website is www dot steel Cityspinedot com and the gym is Elite sportspgh
dot com. Doctor josh la Automaof the Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center
(23:03):
with three locations in Pittsburgh, Washington, mc keys Rocks and in Florida.
Actually and a CEO you should Know. Thank you so much, Thank you.
This has been the CEOs you ShouldKnow podcast, showcasing businesses that are
driving our regional economy, part ofour Heartmedia's commitment to the communities we serve.
I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank you somuch for listening.
Hey, and welcome in. Thisis the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell,let's say hello to doctor Jocelyn Itema.
Good morning, Thank you for joiningme, Thank you for having me.
Tell me everything we need to knowabout Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center.
Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center hasbeen opened since June of twenty twenty.
We offer three different locations, onein the Washington area, one in Upper
(00:30):
Saint Clair, and one in themckeys Rocks area. And you also have
one in Florida too. We do. Yes, it's fabulous. Still tell
us everything we need to know.So, Steel City Spine and Northopedic Center
is basically your one stop shop foranything orthopedic. I do specialize in necks
and backs. That's my primary sourceand that's what I did my fellowship in.
(00:50):
But we also take care of arthriticknees, fractures, sports injuries,
pretty much, you name it.We do have walk in hours as well
on Mondays and Fridays for our CanWarriors. All right, so tell us
who's your typical patient. My typicalpatient any varies anywhere between your twenty three
year old who got injured during CrossFitto your hockey player that he had injured
(01:11):
in the boards over the weekend,probably hit by one of my sons or
my daughter. And also your seventyand eighty year old that are having trouble
walking, having back pain, neckpain. We also have patients that have
been involved in motor vehicle accidents thatwe see. So it's it's a wide
variety, all right. So whenit comes to what is what do you
(01:33):
see on a normal day to daybasis what kind of what kind of ailments
do you see? So discarniations,neck and back, sprain strains, arthritic
knees, just your sprain strain,ankles, pretty much anything. I do
prefer to see neck and back.But we won't turn anybody away because the
(01:53):
first part of what it says isorthopedic spine surgeon. All right, So
you're a surgeon, so that meansthe a lot of this is an invasive
surgery, but it is a justno. So actually I try and avoid
surgery. Yes, I like tocut, but only when it is necessary.
So we will exhaust all other conservativeand interventional options prior to heading to
(02:16):
surgery. And we do offer thoseinjections and those treatments right at the office.
All right. You started your practicein June of twenty twenty, Yes,
right in the middle of the pandemic. What kind of things did you
face during that Well, startup wasvery difficult, and then a lot of
(02:37):
the offices were still sort of closed, so we were having trouble finding places
to be before we really got establishedat our offices that we currently are at.
All right, So, how manypatients do you see on a weekly
basis with help? I do havea physician assistant. Her name is Blaine,
and I also have a nurse practitionerwho's starting and her name is Brittany.
(02:58):
Together we see about two hundred andfifty patients a week a week,
Yeah, it's combined. Combined,I see about thirty to forty patients a
day, and I'm in the officethree times a day or three times a
week, be harder, three timesa day. Two hundred and fifty patients
a week. I just can't imaginethat that's there's that many problems with people.
(03:22):
I know, I've had back problemsin the past, and so you
know, people are it's really aproblem. It's almost it's almost a pandemic.
Yeah, it's an epidemic. Reallyyeah, so what what what's the
simplest solution and what is the mostdifficult solution. Simplest solution is patient comes
in, they really haven't had anytreatment. There's nothing neurologic that we're considering
(03:47):
that that's a concern. They goto physical therapy and that's really the people
that I partner with huge because eightyfive to ninety percent of people will get
better or even be cured by goingto physical therapy. So that's the first
step. What is the cause isAmerican lifestyle. It's a little bit of
everything. It can be. Youknow, patients are trying something new that
(04:10):
they haven't done before, or it'sa it's a chronic injury. I see
a lot of old men that arestill trying to whack that golf ball just
as far and as hard as theycan. But as you age, things
aren't as flexible and so they'll pullsomething or they'll injure something. But given
time and anti inflammatories, ice heat, they get better. But you also
(04:30):
own a gym. This is correct. So yes, we have had the
privilege of partnering with Professor Kelton.He's out of Duquesne. He's part of
Sports I always get this wrong becauseI don't want to say it sports science,
not sports medicines. So these arethe people who for our elite athletes
(04:57):
that want to become better at theirgame sports like soccer or football or baseball,
any of that sort of stuff.We have a gym setup very similar
to what the Penguins have, butwe offer that to athletes that are not
part of the NBA or the NHL. They might be able to see these
(05:18):
type of things at Division one,such as the force plates that we have.
These are the only ones in thearea. And what that means is
it monitors how much pressure are youputting on each foot every time you lift,
how fast are you able to pullthat bar? And in that way
we're able to measure are you makingprogress? And it's actual data that the
(05:41):
athletes can see. And what's whendid this start? This has only been
open for about about a month rightnow, okay, so what have you
learned in the short time that you'vehad this open. Well, patients are
very well athletes, I should saypatients, but athletes are very happy with
it, and so word of mouthis getting there. But we really would
like to offer this too as manyteams as possible, So we have reached
(06:03):
out to like Upper Saint Clair HighSchool and in the Bethel area because that's
where the the gym actually is isin the Upper Saint Clair are all right,
So tell me about your background.So I actually am the youngest of
three. I have two older brothers, which is probably the reason I chose
orthopedics hanging out with my brothers,who you you didn't stop playing unless you
(06:27):
were actually either bleeding or hurt.And I'm the baby. Yeah, my
brothers are eight and ten years olderthan I am. So I grew up
out in Utah, so a lotof outdoor sports, hiking, mountain biking,
skiing. I was actually told Icouldn't ski the last four years of
my high school because I was avery high level swimmer and they didn't want
me knocked out by having an aclterror fracture. And then I decided to
(06:53):
graduate early from high school actually toget out of Utah. No offense to
the state, but just wanted toand ended up at Gettysburg. And the
reason I ended up at Gettysburg isbecause I wanted to be big fish in
little pond. I got offered Cornelland Stanford to go swim for them and
have a scholars Yes, absolutely,yeah, Unfortunately never saw one. Did
(07:15):
seek it out, but didn't didn'tfind any. I think I scare them
off, so ghost Hunters is probablynot going to come for me to host.
But then after Gettysburg, I wentto Johns Hopkins because they had a
thirteen month course to become a BSNSo I started out as a nurse and
(07:35):
then quickly discovered I don't take ordersvery well, so I wanted to be
the one giving orders. So Iended up in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia College
of Osteopathic Medicine, and at thetime didn't really know the difference between a
doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and an MD. So there's alapas an osteopaths, and
(07:55):
I just like the whole concept ofthe osteopathic mindset better. Well, not
only are you a surgeon, butyou're also a business person. You're a
businesswoman, you're a you're a Sothat is doubly impressive. Thank you.
Yeah, that was that was necessity. So the way that things kind of
transpired in the pandemic were places we'rehaving to kind of close down. They
(08:18):
were having to cut down on theamount of staff that they had. So
since I was the last one hired, I was the first one let go.
So I didn't want to leave thearea. And I had a very
good following as far as patients,so that facilitated, Well, I'll just
start my own business and we'll gofrom there. In your specialty, how
many how many women are in yourfield? So in orthopedics girls, girls?
(08:43):
I don't know if I'm allowed touse that word anymore. Women make
up about ten percent nowadays, butthey usually go into subspecialties that are more
women friendly, such as a handor pediatrics or footnankle. Those of us
that go into fine a lot moreselective. We make up about two to
(09:03):
one percent of the entire population.And then on top of that, how
many women then own their own businessA lot less than that because in today's
world it's be bought by the biggercompanies and work as a group, such
as under Hi Mark and UPMC,such as in Pittsburgh. So do you
see yourself as a unique person,a unicorn of sorts? I don't,
(09:26):
but I keep being told that Iam. So that's just who I've always
been. I don't go the normalroutes it's not an insult. No,
no, no, I'm not takingit as insult. But I don't I
don't personally see myself as that special. It's just there's something that needs to
be done. Okay, I cando that. Let's go do it.
Well. It's important for girls,and I mean girls, young women to
(09:46):
see women like you not only beingsuccessful as a surgeon, but as a
businesswoman and entrepreneur, and that combinationis very unique. That's a you should
be proud of that distinction. Thankyou, I appreciate. So what is
your biggest challenge? Our biggest challengeis knowing having people know that I'm out
(10:07):
there, that I am an option, and this is one of the ways
to try and do that. Ido have a good foundation. I've been
here for seven years in the Pittsburgharea, so we have a good foundation.
But with all the other things thatwe can offer, such as the
minimally invasive techniques, the motion preservationtechniques that I use, meaning that I'm
not fusing a person's necker back,We're trying to maintain motion. These are
(10:31):
all options that not everyone in thisarea has, not every surgeon in the
area has, So I'm going totry to answer. Ask this question very
delicately, what is it like fora woman like you? Who who's doing
what you do facing the quote unquotethe big boys. And when I say
(10:56):
big boys, that means you know, the big companies. Yeah, So
what is what is that? Andwhat's what's your marketing strategy? It is
challenging because they have a lot moreyou know, advertising behind them. They
they are able to get out toa wider audience than I am. Actually,
my biggest form of marketing are mypatients. My patients are my walking
(11:18):
billboards. You know. If apatient comes to me has severe pain,
they go to church, they goto their grocery store, they go to
their book club. Oh my gosh, you look amazing. I thought you
had certain didn't you have back surgery? You had back surgery by doctor Itema.
I feel wonderful. I haven't feltthis good in years. I'm actually
able to play with my grandchildren.I'm able to go back to golf.
(11:39):
I'm able to do this, thatand the other thing. That, to
me, is worth more than anyamount of marketing that I could, you
know, put out there in theworld. So what other testimonials do you
hear from your patients. It's alot of word of mouth, and it's
a lot of in all honesty,she actually sat down and listened. You're
(12:01):
the first person that's actually taken thetime to look me in the eyes and
listen to what pain I'm having,what I've gone through, what I've already
tried, what other people have blownme off or told me to go do.
And you actually showed me my films, my x rays, my MRIs.
I can't believe how many people tellme, oh, well, I
(12:22):
was told, well did they showyou? No, No one's ever shold
me my films. Why that's yourbody. You should know what's going on.
You made ununderstand. That's my job. My job is to tell you
what's going on and why it's affectingyou the way that it is. So
how did that become normalized to notdo it? I have no idea,
because I mean, it's a dailyoccurrence. Multiple patients will say, this
(12:46):
is the first time that someone's physicallytouched me for an examination and gone through
my films with me. That makesno sense. It doesn't make sense.
But at the same time, weas a population of doctors, have been
told we're going to cut your reimbursement. You have to see more patients to
(13:07):
be more lucrative. And I thinka lot of physicians have said, well,
then I'm just going to go inand tell the patient what we're doing
and leave. Really, Yeah,it's disappointing, yes, So what is
the status of your profession then?I mean, if if they're not actually
seeing the patients or talking to them, or hearing them or letting them see
their their X rays and things likethat, what does that say about that
(13:33):
that part profession? Yeah, yeah, I think that's why you see a
lot of patients. Well, socialmedia is so big now that they'll go
and say I wasn't listened to,or patients will end up doctor bouncing because
they're not getting what they want fromone. So that didn't work, Let
me try somebody else, Let metry somebody else. And so a lot
(13:54):
of patients will be very frustrated.And in my business, we're seeing chronic
pain. You wake up in pain, you go to bed in pain.
So patients are kind of grumpy.And so my girls who work in the
office, I always tell them justremember if you have a bad day,
that's one thing, But these peopleare in constant pain. So don't take
(14:15):
it personal if they come in andthey're a little snippy, But we'll work
through that. We'll get through that. But yeah, I think that's why
we see a lot of patients doctorbouncing because they're just not being felt like
they're validated, they're not being heard. You have a number of locations here
in Pittsburgh and in Florida, Sowhat's the future. Well, the future,
I think is really one of theoptions for Florida. So there's a
(14:41):
lot of patients down there that needback surgery or neck surgery, and it's
an older population and the techniques thatwe're using now is basically an outpatient.
The days of you going into thehospital and staying three to five days should
really be behind us. We havemuch better techniques, We have much better
(15:03):
instrumentation as well as pain control techniquesthat it should be more of. You
get what you need done and yougo home. And I think that's one
of the options that is kind oflacking in Florida. So we're trying to
bring that to that population. Allright, So tell me how you have
decided to give back to the community. So both my son and my daughter
play for the Pittsburgh Penn's Elite.We were lucky enough to do that,
(15:26):
so we actually volunteer a lot oftime with them on the sidelines. I
kind of provide services if needed ifpeople get injured. We're also very active
with Peters Township that's where we live, so we do volunteer and donations to
the Peters hockey and lacrosse and football. You are a swimmer in high school.
(15:48):
Were you a swimmer in college aswell? I was what did you
learn about athletics and how when youhave a gym and you're seeing patients and
you know the physiology of athletes.Yes, so that do use that experience
a deathly to help these patients.I do so. The mechanism of the
(16:10):
injury is one of the biggest thingsto break down for a patient, especially
if you're seeing them for the veryfirst time. They haven't gone to an
urgent care, they've gotten X raysor anything like that. So the mechanism
of injury and your physical examination willgive you a lot of information as far
as yeah, you know what,I think, this is an ACL tear.
You know, we need to goright to an MRI. We need
to put them into a brace.But it's also the mindset of an athlete
(16:33):
who wants to get back to theirsport. Right, let's the number one
question. I'm hurt, but whencan I get back? What do I
need to do to get back?As a high level athlete and married to
a high level rugby player, Iunderstand that. So there's a balance between,
Okay, we need to take careof this, but what can we
do while you're waiting. If thisis a leg injury, we can still
(16:55):
do upper body, We can stilldo core to keep you ready to get
back into that sport. Okay,I got a question for you, and
this may not be included. Whydo you think so few women go into
this field? It is not exactlywoman friendly, to be honest, frankly.
(17:18):
So when I went through med school, you have to do audition rotations
through orthopedics, and I would showup the only woman with five other males
and had to put myself out there, stay later, show up earlier.
But there was also the I can'treally talk around her. Well, the
(17:41):
benefit for me was I was aroundthree males, so there was not any
sort of locker room talk that Ihad not heard, so in all honesty,
I would throw out something just tobreak the ice and they'd be like,
did she just say that? Okay, everything's cool. But I still
had advisors and upper level attendings thatdidn't want a woman there. And I
(18:10):
actually had one of the program directorsget right in my face and say women
don't belong in orthopedics. Don't botheryou know, applying. Okay, Well,
then it was still the male dominatedfield. Is that is that becoming
passe depends on where you are,yes and no. So I actually broke
(18:36):
into my internship. I went toOklahoma for my orthopedic internship and they hadn't
taken a woman in over twenty fiveyears. And the previous woman god lover
I got to meet her was inthe military, so their idea of a
woman was more like Gi Jane.So when I showed up, I didn't
have a name. For the firstsix months, I was Orthochick. That
(18:59):
was Orthochick. She's the girl thatgot accepted to orthough. I enjoyed it
because I was doing what I liketo do. Yeah, you had the
occasional misogynist whatever, You'd let thatroll off your back, because if you
get to that point, if you'vemade it all the way through med school,
and you decide you want to dosomething that's been male dominated for a
(19:21):
while. If you can't let thingsroll off your back, you are going
to be miserable and you might aswell have just been a general surgeon and
not enjoyed your life. Is thisyour passion? It is? It is
that and being a mom, whichalso makes it very very difficult. You
know, I've got I'm an ownerof a business. I got to make
sure that my employees are doing whatthey're supposed to do. I got to
(19:42):
make sure I'm doing the best thatI'm doing as far as a surgeon and
outcomes. And then I still wantto be there for, you know,
both of my kids activities and bea mom and all those sorts of things.
So it's very full, but it'svery fulfilling as an amazing a role
model for your children, though,I think so. I think so.
(20:03):
It shows my son that he canhave a strong willed woman who's going to
be his equal, and it alsoshows my daughter that there are no limits.
She can do anything she wants todo. Did you come from a
family of medicine. No. Icame from a family of an entrepreneur.
My dad was the CEO of hisown business for over thirty years. He
(20:26):
wanted to go to med school,and I think that's why my first word,
according to him, was patella andnot mom or dad. My brothers
are very exceptional. My oldest brotheris an architect. My second oldest brother
has a PhD in computer science.So I mean, we're all high.
What about your kids. Are theyold enough to think that maybe they're going
to try their hand at medicine?Oh? Absolutely not, no, no
(20:52):
no. So these poor things havebeen drug to what we call rounding.
So ever since I was in medicine, I would have to go and round
on patients, well my husband working. I would have to take them in
the stroller push him around. Mydaughter, we tease her every once in
a while that I had a patientin the hospital that I had to pull
the pins out of her wrist becausewe had done surgery and they needed to
(21:15):
come out, and she started cryingand my son was like, Mommy,
don't hurt that lady. So yeah, and they've also seen on. One
of the stories that I like totell to other people that are thinking about
doing this is my son was aboutsix, my daughter was about three,
and my son was like Mommy,can you read me a story tonight before
(21:36):
I go to bed? Oh?Yeah, absolutely, Go Go grab your
snuggie, go grab your book andI'll meet you in there. While I
was on call and I got Paigeto a little girl who had broken her
arm and I had to go inand set it and put a cast on
it. So I changed into myscrubs. And my kids know that when
I'm in scrubs that means Mommy's leaving. So I went in and gave him
a kiss, and he goes,where are you going? I said,
(21:56):
well, I have to go tothe hospital. Little girl got injured.
And he goes, why are otherkids more important than we are? And
as I'm driving to the hospital,I'm like, is this the knife in
my back and in my heart rightnow? And so I called my husband
later I said is he okay?He says, oh, he was fine.
I read him a book an hewent to bed. Now the flip
(22:17):
side of that, when my daughterwas old enough, she was like,
my mom piece out, Oh maybemaybe it sounds like she has the you
know, you know, she hasthe the the personality of doing what you
do, maybe well in a way, so she has uh made inclinations that
(22:40):
she would like to be a veterinarian, and so I think, yeah,
I'd be okay with that. Allright, if somebody needs your services,
the website and what what do youhave on your on your website. So
the website is www dot steel Cityspinedot com and the gym is Elite sportspgh
dot com. Doctor josh la Automaof the Steel City Spine and Orthopedic Center
(23:03):
with three locations in Pittsburgh, Washington, mc keys Rocks and in Florida.
Actually and a CEO you should Know. Thank you so much, Thank you.
This has been the CEOs you ShouldKnow podcast, showcasing businesses that are
driving our regional economy, part ofour Heartmedia's commitment to the communities we serve.
I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank you somuch for listening.
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