Wellington Regional Medical Center’s Thriving Neurology Department Brings Latest Technology To The Community Story by Anne Checkosky Photos by Abner Pedraza
There’s no need for patients suffering with acute brain or spine disorders to travel long distances for treatment. Wellington Regional Medical Center provides advanced neurosurgical services, including cranial and spine surgery. That’s great news for the community because patients are more likely to have better outcomes when they receive fast and appropriate care.
“Wellington Regional works with neurosurgeons like Dr. Fakhoury, who have expertise and experience in evaluating and treating people with neurological conditions,” Chief Nursing Officer Michelle Epps said. “Neurosurgeons provide the most current management and surgical techniques, including minimally invasive options.” Using a minimally invasive approach leads to shorter hospital stays, less post-operative pain, minimal blood loss and faster return to work, Fakhoury said. “At Wellington Regional Medical Center, we use newer techniques to minimize pain and recovery time. We make the smallest incisions possible,” he said. “We are able to diagnose symptoms of back pain for our patients and design a treatment plan that helps ease discomfort so our patients may resume normal activities and regain their quality of life.”
Neurosurgery technology in action at Wellington Regional Medical Center.
Patients with ruptured lumbar or cervical discs, degenerative spine disease, spinal stenosis, fractured vertebrae, pinched nerves, and other painful and debilitating spine conditions can also get the sophisticated neurosurgery they need at WRMC. “Wellington Regional Medical Center is one of the premier providers of neurosurgical treatment in the area,” Interim CEO Robbin Lee said. “Our objectives are to become the benchmark, displaying quality patient care throughout Palm Beach County and South Florida.” The hospital performs a number of spine procedures, including fusions, where surgeons use small screws, rods and donor bone grafts to fuse vertebrae in the lumbar or cervical spine; dynamic stabilization, where 30 July 2013 |wellington the magazine|
doctors use special screws and flexible rods to limit motion in the spine and keep it in a more natural position to help patients with a degenerative disc disorder called spondylolisthesis; decompression laminectomy, where surgeons remove a portion of the bone above the spinal cord and any disc materials or thickened tissues that narrow the spinal canal; and disc replacement procedures, which is where doctors extract diseased discs and replace them with artificial discs that help preserve function and movement. WRMC neurosurgeon Dr. Faris J. Fakhoury focuses on surgery of the brain and spine, inclusive of all pathology, such as brain and spine tumors, brain hemorrhages, brain trauma, degenerative spine disease, cervical and lumbar herniated discs, back pain, neck pain and artificial disc replacement.
Fakhoury decided that he wanted to become a doctor as a high school student growing up in Chicago. He called the spine and nervous system the most elegant and mysterious organs of the body. “It represents one of the final frontiers for research and discoveries in medicine and science,” he said, adding that his training to become a