Christian Robertson

After hearing from my local Orthopedist that spinal fusion surgery was the only way to rid me of my neck pain, I wanted a 2nd opinion. I did a ton of online research and heard nothing but great things about HSS.

I saw Dr. Han Jo Kim who confirmed what the first doctor said, and I set up an appointment for the surgery.

While I will get to how amazing both Dr. Kim and everyone in the hospital was throughout the whole surgery itself, I want to start by praising someone who I'm sure is oftentimes overlooked by patients going through an ordeal where they end up having titanium plates implanted in their necks....and that is Ashley Dimmock, Dr. Kim's office manager.

When you have an injury like mine, and you also have a job with physical requirements, there is a ton of paperwork involved, from FMLA paperwork to Disability paperwork, etc..etc.. In the past I've found that dealing with insurance companies and doctor's offices and disability agents can be even more painful (just in a different way) than the injury itself. Ashley has made everything as easy as can be. Any time I've had to email her she responds promptly and tells me exactly what she needs from me, and when I get her the information, she responds again and gives me an estimated time of when she'll have her end of things completed, and it's always done correctly. She does all of this professionally yet in a very friendly manner. She makes it feel the way it feels when you have a "friend on the inside" somewhere who lets you bypass all the nonsense so you can get what you need as easily as possible. I can't say enough good things about her. I'm sure the surgeons get the most praise, (and deservedly so), because they make the "magic happen", and the nurses get a lot of praise because they get a lot of face time with the patients, people like Ashley get overlooked because they are behind the scenes. While the ultimate goal was to come out of this surgery with no more physical pain, it is JUST as important that during the surgery and recovery that my insurance takes care of what they need to take care of and that I get my disability payments while I am out of work, so I can continue to pay my bills, and so on. Dr. Kim took care of my physical pain, he along with the nurses assigned to me (Gloria & Taylor) were amazing. I am healing well so far and they did an amazing job, but Ashley has taken care of the rest of it and she deserves the utmost praise.

Thank you all!!