There’s no time for farmers to slow down, especially during harvest season.
That’s why Covenant Health doctors do whatever they can to make sure farmers who get hurt get back to work as soon as they can.
Farmers like 77-year-old Jerry Powell.
Powell is a wheat farmer in Grady, New Mexico who had a double knee replacement just a few months ago.
“Probably about a year before I had surgery, they [my knees] progressed pretty slow for about 6 months and then all the sudden they just gave plum out,” Powell explained.
“Their livelihood is at stake,” explained Covenant Health Plainview Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Joshua Rollins.
Dr. Rollins and fellow Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Benjamin Farr operated on Powell.
“We have a broad spectrum of injuries when you’re working with farm equipment, trailers, and gears,” said Dr. Farr. “You’ve very prone to get fingers or hands stuck in the equipment.”
Dr. Farr and Dr. Rollins say being able to help farmers get back to work faster is an important part of their jobs.
“It gives us an opportunity to help them be able to bring in their harvest or help them to be able to function and make a profit for themselves and stay viable with the work that they’re doing,” explained Dr. Rollins.
Now Powell walks without any pain all thanks to the doctors who go the extra mile for the rural communities on the South Plains.
“I can go up a ladder or up the stairs to get to my bedroom,” explained Powell. ” I couldnt ask for better care.”
