Arlie Pemberton

For months, 79-year-old Arlie Pemberton just lived with the pain of arthritis in his left knee. Having undergone a total knee replacement surgery eight years before for the right knee, he was in no hurry to repeat the procedure. Pemberton had been slow to heal from the surgery and experienced several complications, taking nearly a year to get back to “normal.” Plus, having surgery far from home had been a drain on both him and his wife, Helen. With their furniture store business located adjacent to Lexington, travel was difficult and disruptive for the Pembertons.

However, the pain from the arthritis eventually left Pemberton barely able to walk and he knew further surgery was inevitable. This time, however, the Pembertons’ daughter, Jennifer Schneader, an employee of Lafayette Regional Health Center (LRHC), encouraged him to visit LRHC orthopedic specialist, Clinton Pickett, DO. Dr. Pickett’s strong reputation for surgical excellence, along with the fact that he was local, were enough to convince the Pembertons to talk with him. It was a conversation that resulted in a very different surgical experience than before.

For starters, Dr. Pickett told the Pembertons he could do the surgery at Lafayette Regional, minimizing the inconvenience, travel and stress for them. Dr. Pickett was very clear in explaining the surgery, what would happen afterwards and what Pemberton could expect.

“He had a great bedside manner,” recalls Pemberton. “I didn’t have that before with my other surgery.”

Then on March 21, 2014, Dr. Pickett performed the total knee replacement. Pemberton was in the hospital for 10 days. And although he is not quite back to full speed yet, his knee is healing well and at a faster pace than his other one.

“The hospital was great, so were the nurses and so was the food,” he says. “Dr. Pickett stopped by several times to check on me. Before, when I had surgery, I never saw the surgeon afterwards. That wasn’t the case here. Dr. Pickett was just great.

“Plus my wife was able to keep the store going during the day, then come stay at the hospital at night when she wanted to. We’re very happy we did this here.”