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| Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox Fort Kent resident Yvonne Morneault visited Pines Orthopedic & Sports Medicine office’s open house and discussed with Dr. Jean-Pierre Michaud the new knees he replaced for her approximately five years ago, which she proudly displayed for all to see. |
By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Pines Health Services Orthopedics & Sports Medicine office held an open house on Saturday, providing the public with guided tours of their new larger facility now located right at Cary Medical Center.
The 7,500-square-foot office features on-site state-of-the art X-ray technology, eight exam rooms and two casting procedure rooms. The rooms and hallways were all built with extra width to accommodate the mobility needs of patients on crutches or in wheel chairs.
“There was a real need to expand our operation,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Michaud, Pines’ orthopedic surgeon. “We see a lot of elderly patients with disabilities who need the easy access.”
About a year in the making, the new facility has been open for approximately a month.
“The hospital and board went out of their way to make this a first-class operation,” said Michaud, who added that the entire office staff had input in the design to ensure a perfect atmosphere to complete their work. The main attraction of the facility is the new X-ray room, which features a wider table that lowers and rises as necessary to accommodate the patient’s needs and a low-radiation X-ray machine that can be maneuvered in any position necessary to capture the injured area without the patient having to move.
Once the X-rays are complete, they are then digitally transferred to an examining room for the doctor to review instantly. Before the new facility was built, patients would have to go to Cary’s X-ray department and the doctor would have to wait for them to be developed and delivered. Now patients are able to remain right in the office and the doctor has results immediately.
Michaud, who attended medical school and served his residency in Quebec, has been practicing in Aroostook County since 1987. One of his patients, 84-year-old Yvonne Morneault of Fort Kent, was on hand for the open house and sang the doctor’s praises.
“He missed his calling. He should have been a seamstress,” Morneault said, proudly displaying the knees Michaud replaced for her about five years ago. “Look at how perfect his lines are!”
Michaud advised he and physicians’ assistant Scott Walton, who has worked with Michaud for over 22 years, have seen patients from all over the County in the new facility and, so far, everything is going well.
“Everyone has been happy with the service,” Michaud said.
Patients visiting the new orthopedic facility should drive to Cary Medical Center as they have in the past and turn right at the Cary Medical Center sign. The Orthopedics & Sports medicine parking lot and entrance is located at the first left.
