Orthopedic and Sports Institute.com - RC Grad Makes Full Circle by Bringing Practice to Ripon

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RC Grad Makes Full Circle by Bringing Practice to Ripon

Ripon, Wis. (December 20, 2007) – In the mid ’70’s, a young David Eggert played for Kermit “Doc” Weiske as a member of the Ripon College man’s basketball team. It was on that hardwood that his future slammed into him in a painful way. “I tore my ACL,” he said. “We were playing Lakeland.” Needing medical intervention, he visited an orthopedic surgeon at Ripon Medical Center (RMC). He visited the hospital to fix his knee. He ended up finding a career. Fascinated by the care he received from that surgeon, whom Eggert called “a role model,” the young college student embarked on a journey into orthopedic medicine.

“I have great memories of Ripon,” he said. “Hopefully, this relationship benefits both parties. Ripon is a community with a fair amount of orthopedic [cases] that go elsewhere. Hopefully we can keep as much orthopedics here as possible, and hopefully I can become a part of that.”

Today, three decades after his 1977 graduation from Ripon College, the now-Dr. Eggert finds himself back in the community that launched his career. Eggert, of the Orthopedic and Sports Institute of the Fox Valley, has begun practicing at RC -- the same hospital at which he first imagined becoming a surgeon. Eggert practices every Monday in RMC’s Primary Care Services building, aiding patients needing general orthopedic surgery. “I specialize in sports-related activities,” he said. “But not just athletes. Middle-aged athletes, also.” He also works with non-athletes who simply have orthopedic needs. “What I do is [a lot of] arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder, arthroscopic knee surgery, and then again as one gets older, you end up doing a lot of total joints,” Eggert said. He has found he truly enjoys the work, both because it offers “a lot of variations” and because of the response he gets from patients. “Patients are very grateful because of the surgery,” he said. “A lot of times they’re healthy people, with one or two ailments you can operate on... and they’re able to do [normal activities] again. It’s very gratifying.”

Already, Eggert is affiliated with such large hospitals as Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah and St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton. He’s also a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, and active fellow of the American Orthopaedic Surgeons, is a member of the Wisconsin Medical Society and the National Football League Physician Society.

DR. DAVID EGGERT examines a person's hip on an X-ray. He visits Ripon Medical Center once a week to see patients.

Now, bringing his practice from the Fox Valley into Ripon, Eggert expects he “probably will be doing a lot of outpatient surgery, a lot of work-related surgeries.” He sees RMC’s burgeoning sports-medicine department as “an opportunity” as well.

Eggert’s return to Ripon has occurred relatively quickly. “About three months ago, I called [RMC CEO] Tommy Hobbs,” Eggert said. “I knew that one of the orthopods covering Ripon had stopped coming here. I thought that was an opportunity then I thought about the college.” Eggert already built a relationship with high schools and colleges in the Appleton area. He hopes to recreate that magic in Ripon. “I thought about our mentor program, and thought it would be fabulous for the college,” Eggert said. “In my mind, I was trying to piece this all together.”

That mentoring program, last year, gave 45 kids “an opportunity to determine if medicine is something for them” through a program akin to job shadowing, he said. “We have 90 signed up for next year.” Eggert hopes to do something similar in Ripon.

“I envision this as a relationship between the hospital, the college and the community,” he said, noting he wants to build other bridges back to Ripon College as well. “I’ve already talked to the people at the college, and hopefully I can take care of some of their athletes.”
Finally making it back to the community that helped mold him into medicine in the first place already has been special for Eggert.

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RC Grad Makes Full Circle by Bringing Practice to Ripon