Center of Excellence Orthopedic Surgeons: (L to R) Ben Gomez, MD; Stephen Gould, MD; Vincent Bergquist, MD; Steven Fuller, DO; David Dueland, MD; Connor Ojard, MD.

Cullman Regional announced the official opening of its Center of Excellence Orthopedics & Spine with a ribbon cutting event Wednesday. Physicians, hospital administration and community leaders celebrated the new hospital service and shared how the innovative healthcare concept will benefit patients throughout North Alabama.

“Our goal was to develop a program focused on giving patients high quality care and a better experience overall,” said Cullman Regional CEO James Clements. “We’re proud to offer this advanced level of medical care and to give people in North Alabama a new choice for orthopedic and spine care.”

The hospital established evidence-based best practices as the standard of care for all participating physicians. The seven-physician team will meet regularly with Cullman Regional administrators to review patient outcomes and evaluate opportunities for further improvement.

“High quality care has always been important to us,” said Center of Excellence orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vincent Bergquist. “But now we have a coordinated and intentional approach which allows us to take that care to the next level.”

Even with high quality surgical care in place, patients oftentimes get discouraged or frustrated either because of the challenging schedule of pre- and post-surgery appointments or they feel like they don’t have enough information. Eliminating these negative patient experiences is one of the program goals and is the focus of the Center of Excellence staff, which includes a patient engagement specialist, nurse navigator and nurse practitioner.

“We’re clinicians who understand the process of orthopedic and spine surgery and know how to help patients every step of the way,” said Center of Excellence nurse practitioner Ashley Godfrey. “We are a resource for patients and we work hard to support them and keep them informed so they can feel confident all the way through completing their recovery.”

• Center of Excellence Orthopedics & Spine Physicians
• Vincent Bergquist, MD Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• David Dueland, MD Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• Steven B. Fuller, DO Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• Ben Gomez, MD Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• Stephen Gould, MD Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine
• Phillip Kravetz, MD Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
• Connor A Ojard, MD Orthopedic Surgery

Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment with a Center of Excellence Orthopedics & Spine physician should call 256-735-5916 or visit the Center of Excellence web page at cullmanregional.com to learn more.