Special thanks to The DPA, The Daily Post-Athenian
Southern Orthocare, a Prosthetic & Orthotic clinic headquartered in Morristown, has opened a full-time clinic in Athens. They celebrated their new clinic by joining the Athens Chamber of Commerce and holding a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
Centrally located across from Starr Regional Medical Center, Southern Orthocare hopes to provide local care to patients from Athens, Sweetwater, Etowah, Decatur, Dayton, and other surrounding communities who would otherwise need to drive to Knoxville or Chattanooga for the same level of quality care.
Southern Orthocare is pleased to have North Carolina native Tom Fehl, CPO/L as Clinic Manager. Fehl is an ABC Certified and TN Licensed Prosthetist and Orthotist. He graduated from New York University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Prosthetics and Orthotics.
Fehl has practiced for over 30 years, many of which he served as the owner and lead practitioner for a multi-office prosthetic and orthotic group based in South Carolina. He specializes in lower and upper limb prosthetics, microprocessor technology, and CAD CAM systems. He is also highly skilled in providing custom spinal, knee and ankle bracing as well as pedorthic foot care.
Fehl is passionate about patient outcomes, and a positive patient experience. From initial evaluation to the final fitting of a device, he believes in providing excellence and assisting his patients in reaching their maximum potential.
Southern Orthocare was founded in 2007 and has been serving amputees and other patients with mobility-related issues since that time. The Athens clinic is open Monday - Friday, and provides custom prosthetic limbs, orthopedic bracing, and diabetic footwear.
Southern Orthocare is credentialed with nearly all insurance plans, including Medicare, Tenncare, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Bluecare, Humana, United Healthcare, Cigna, HealthSpring, Amerigroup, Wellcare, and most Workers’ Comp plans. Southern Orthocare is also contracted with the Veterans Administration (VA) and serves veterans across East Tennessee.
Southern Orthocare is affiliated with the Evergreen Prosthetic & Orthotic Group based in Portland, Oregon, and is accredited by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics, Inc., (ABC). ABC has been the leader in providing facility accreditation to Prosthetic and Orthotic clinics around the US since 1948.
Southern Orthocare Founder and CEO Joseph Huntsman states. “ABC is the gold standard in our industry. Only the highest quality O&P clinics are accredited by ABC.”
Huntsman is the brother-in-law of local physician and native, Dr. Shane Roberts, whose practice is located in Decatur. Dr. Roberts opened his clinic in 1995 and provides medical care to a large number of local residents.
“We are very excited about our Athens clinic and look forward to partnering with physicians and other providers to serve patients from the region who have lost a limb or suffer from other mobility related issues,” states Huntsman. “Our first core value is compassion. This is at the heart of who we are.”
For more information or to schedule an appointment, you can call the Southern Orthocare clinic at 423-252-0149, or visit their website at www.southernorthocare.co