New sports and orthopedic center opens in Waco

Baylor Scott & White President, Glenn Robinson, leads the opening ceremony for the Ted and Sue Getterman Sports and Orthopedic Center Thursday. The freestanding sports and orthopedics facility has 106,000 square feet and four stories and will open March 2. Brittney Matthews | Multimedia Editor

By Phoebe Alwine | Reporter

Baylor Scott & White Health held the grand opening of the Ted and Sue Getterman Sports and Orthopedic Center Thursday, designed to advance sports medicine and promote injury prevention.

The building is the new home to the Baylor Scott & White Southwest Sports Medicine & Orthopedics team of physicians along with physical therapists, state-of-the-art imaging equipment and orthopedic surgery.

Senior officials from Baylor Scott & White and Baylor Athletics all spoke at the grand opening, including Glenn Robinson, president of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Hillcrest.

“This facility allows us to add 3T MRI care for our patients and imaging for our patients, as no one can deny the increase in rehabilitation capabilities that you see in this room,” Dr. David Haynes, orthopedic surgeon at Baylor Scott & White Southwest Sports Medicine said. “It’s really fantastic and I’m very excited that all of you get to see it and what’s available to our patients in Central Texas.”

This center offers orthopedic services and surgeries in the community. The four floors are composed of rehabilitation and sports therapy, 48 exam rooms, advanced imaging, procedure rooms, an outdoor sports performance area and classrooms.

“We are going to near-perfect all clinical services that we provide,” Jim Hinton, chief executive officer at Baylor Scott & White Health, said. “There will be zero harm to our patients in the provision of that care, and we will follow evidence-based protocols in everything we do.”

Kenny Boyd, senior associate athletic director for Baylor Athletics, said during his career he has seen the difficulty injury brings to students and athletes at any level.

“There certainly lies a great opportunity in a state of the art facility such as this, the opportunity to bring elite sports medicine care at all phases of the injury, all under one roof,” Boyd said.

This innovative center provides advanced technology and equipment to the entire community, Boyd said. With the focus on injury prevention, the center is equipped with a resistance training system that provides aqua-therapy to patients, allowing for less damage to an athlete’s body.

The center also offers an anti-gravity treadmill and the Fusionetics Performance Health System, a sports science clinical program that focuses on decreasing injury while enhancing performance.

“We would not have been able to do this facility, this project without the support of these amazing physicians,” Hinton said.

Specialists at Baylor Scott & White Sports and Orthopedic Center also offer patients surgical and nonsurgical options for injuries involving the elbow, hand/wrist, ankle/foot and spine and total joint.

“This building is a sign of the commitment to excellence in healthcare that’s necessary not only to support campus students but also a community of future, current and former athletes,” Boyd said.