The University of New Mexico Health Sciences' Center of Excellence for Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation has opened, The Rio Rancho Observer reported Dec. 19.
The 50,000-square-foot teaching hospital is adjacent to UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho, which plans to add five more total joint surgeons over the next five years, Jamie Silva-Steele, RN, the hospital's president and CEO, told PBS affiliate KRWG. Most of UNM's joint replacement procedures are performed at UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Dec. 1 for the center of excellence, which includes a research lab, X-rays, patient exam rooms, two biosafety level-2 workstations and a cadaver lab.
"A cadaver lab is really important for this international educational process. It's teaching them to learn about anatomy and surgical procedures," Robert Schenck, MD, chair of the UNM Health Sciences Orthopaedics Department, told the publication. "It will help all the practitioners involved in that learning experience to be better providers, better surgeons, better therapists, better doctors."