Jean Kolarsey

Dr. Thomas Sculco had done my right knee years ago. I couldn’t take the pain anymore in my left knee and left hip, so I went back to Dr. Sculco to get his opinion. He did a revision of my left knee on February 2, 2022.

At the hospital, I would say it was excellent care. I’m a retired registered nurse, so I was able to notice things. First, the staff are very polite and accommodating and make you feel welcome. For instance, the anesthesiologist that works with Dr. Sculco is from Haiti. I’ve gone on a mission trip there and loved it. Dr. Sculco told me afterwards, “Oh, my anesthesiologist is from Haiti.” So, at the time of my surgery, she came to visit me, and I told her that I’d been down there as a missionary, and she was so kind to me. She just kept saying, “Thank you for what you did! Thank you for what you did!” And I’m like, “Well it was my pleasure.” It’s just little things like that – it can’t be any more pleasant despite the fact you’re looking at surgery. Second, they explain everything; they always ask if you have questions, which I do appreciate. I had an excellent experience there despite the ongoing pandemic.

The care at HSS and my rehab experience were excellent. I was in severe pain for 13 months before Dr. Sculco fixed it. Before the surgery, I took the train up to New York to do all the pre-op steps. They send you multiple surveys and forms to fill out, so one evening I just sat down and I went through all of them. And then I got to do all my pre-op visits at the hospital, and lastly, I saw Dr. Sculco in his office building, but I was in the main hospital getting all the tests done. I had done all of my questionnaires and I paid my copay, and I was two and a half hours early to see Dr. Sculco, that’s how fast it went. So please, if you want to get through this easily, just do your thing, it doesn’t take too long, and fill out your questionnaires and pay your copay online and you just breeze through that whole process.

I went [to Ivy] I’m not sure how many weeks, at first I was going three times a week and then two days a week. I mainly saw Zach and sometimes I was seen by other physical therapists, and they were excellent, too. Zach was always there amongst the other people in rehab, so if you had a question he was always available, and I did appreciate that.

I’m telling you, everybody from the receptionist all the way up to Zach couldn’t have been kinder, and it wasn’t just me. For example, during my time in rehab, there was an elderly lady, a lot older than me. She was a very polite southern lady, I saw her a few times and was next to her exercising and she was very sweet. One day she was leaving, her therapist (Connor) was walking beside her to make sure she was OK, and she dropped a Kleenex. Both Zach and Connor rushed to get her Kleenex, “Here you go miss!” You don’t learn that form of kindness in school, that’s just how you are.

One more thing about rehab which I loved, and I’ve told family members who had hip replacements and other procedures, is that Zach sent a link to all the exercises for me to open on my iPad. Zach put all the exercises I was supposed to do, and I did that on my days off from PT. That was another easy thing, because when you go to PT, they give you paper after paper after paper to do these exercises. On this video, you just do the exercises along with the video. It’s a no-brainer. The only problem is when I did that, my dog thought I was playing with him. He enjoyed my exercises too, I guess. But that is a big plus.

I’m doing so well now because I was faithful about doing the exercises, and I am going to a gym now doing the same exercises that Zach gave me. Now I can do stairs, and the wonderful thing is I don’t have to stop and think about taking that first step like I did for 13 months after my previous surgery. It’s improved that much, and the swelling is down considerably. I couldn’t be happier and I’m really appreciative.

So yes, I am impressed, and I would highly recommend both HSS and Ivy to my family if they needed care. I think it doesn’t get any better than that. Everyone from the nurses to the lady that brought me meals in the hospital were all kind and just very nice. If 10 is the highest rating, I’d give it a 25.