Academy Rolls out New Public Service Messages

Terry Stanton

The role of the orthopaedic surgeon in promoting health and safety will remain in the public eye as the Academy unveils several new public service initiatives in 2012. The campaigns use all the major media to provide information and education on the hazards of overuse injuries in young athletes, distracted driving, and childhood obesity.

AAOS Introduces Member Advantage Program

Jackie Ryan, MPA

In 2008, then AAOS First Vice-President Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD, predicted a time when the AAOS would offer an affinity program for members “to provide options for reduced-rate life insurance and disability insurance.” Now, after extensive research and evaluation of various affinity programs, brokers, policies, and insurers, that prediction has become a reality.

Looking back, facing forward

Daniel J. Berry, MD

Daniel J. Berry, MD Building on the past My predecessor, John J. Callaghan, MD, made “quality” the byword of his year in office. I’m proud that initiatives begun under his leadership became realities during my term of office. In May 2011, the AAOS and the Orthopaedic Research Society cosponsored a Comparative Effectiveness Research Symposium, focusing on the value of musculoskeletal procedures not only to our patients, but to society as well.

Pat on the back...

Freddie H. Fu, MD, recipient of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Dapper Dan Charities Sports Leadership Award. Richard Lehman, MD, inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. New members of the 2012 OMeGA Medical Grants Association board of directors: C. McCollister Evarts, MD, president; Richard H. Gross, MD, secretary; Alexander J. Ghanayem, MD, treasurer; David E. Attarian, MD; James J. Purtill, MD; and William W. Tomford, MD.

Catching Up with What You Think

About being sued… The article “Avoiding a Lawsuit: Lessons from the Never Sued” (AAOS Now, October 2011) includes several suggestions on how to practice medicine (“be nice, be competent, be communicators, use check lists”). I believe these are excellent points on how to practice good medicine, but have little bearing on the chance of being sued. As mentioned in another article in that same issue (“How Likely Are You to Be Sued?”

“Working Poor” Benefit From Outreach Effort

Olga Foley

Building on the success of Operation Walk, an international effort that has provided free joint replacement surgeries to patients around the world, three orthopaedic specialty societies—The Hip Society, The Knee Society, and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS)—gave more than 85 patients an early holiday gift, the ability to walk without pain.

2012 Safe, Accessible Playground Build Update

Lauren Pearson

The AAOS, along with its volunteer orthopaedic surgeons and industry partners, has been building safe, accessible playgrounds and donating them to each city that has hosted the AAOS Annual Meeting since 2000. This year, the Academy’s 13th annual Safe, Accessible Playground Build, held on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, will be gifted to the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center (Tel-Hi).

AAOS-Vietnam Program Completes Successful Third Year

Jennie McKee

Since May 2009, the AAOS-Vietnamese Orthopaedic Association (VOA) Visiting Faculty and Professional Development Program has provided critical support, guidance, and education to Vietnamese orthopaedic surgeons to help raise the quality of orthopaedic care in Vietnam. The program—one of the Academy’s most successful international education outreach programs—completed its third year in 2011 and will continue for three more years.

AAOS Member Honored to Ride in Rose Parade

Peter Pollack

I’d always signed the donor section on the back of my driver’s license,” said James H. Haemmerle, MD, of Savage, Minn.,“but a few years ago I started to think a little more seriously about it.” Dr. Hammerle stops to admire one of the thousands of roses with personal dedications of love and remembrance that decorated the unique Dedication Garden encircling the float.   As he researched the issue, Dr.

Making a Difference in Guatemala

Maureen Leahy

For the thousands of Guatemalans with debilitating osteoarthritis whom they have treated, Jorge Guillermo Claverie, MD, and his colleagues are truly life-changers. Approximately one million people in Guatemala have degenerative osteoarthritis, which eventually robs them of their ability to walk, according to Dr. Claverie, a specialist in hip and knee replacement and founder of The Guatemalan Foundation of Orthopedic Surgery (FUNDAORTO).

Change Your AAOS Website Username Online

James A. Ogle

New system makes it simple and easy to switch your username James A. Ogle In July 2010, the AAOS upgraded its association software—a necessary move to enable us to continue to provide quality service to members. But the process required resetting all existing member usernames to their AAOS member ID (without the leading zeroes).