To My Friends and Colleagues in the Orthopedics Community:
In late September, I received a phone call from an independent reporter from the Washington, DC bureau of USA Today who wanted to know what I thought about U.S. Senator Max Baucus' healthcare reform proposal. In the hope of educating and being helpful, I agreed to the call. A week later, USA Today sent one of their Washington, DC based reporters to Warsaw for interviews. I, as well as other industry executives agreed to individual interviews in an effort to help bring a national spotlight to this issue. I think we all genuinely felt it would be a good opportunity to showcase Warsaw and bring awareness to the potential negative impact the Baucus bill could have on the orthopedic industry, especially when many in Washington have openly admitted to not reading it.
Upon reading USA Today's Wednesday article about the orthopedic industry, I was disappointed to see how my comments were taken out of context. I spent much of that day on the phone calling friends and apologizing for how the reporter represented my view of the orthopedic device workforce as "unskilled." Nothing could be further from the truth. As a native of Warsaw and someone who has dedicated the majority of his working life to the orthopedics industry, I can assure you that I have the utmost respect and admiration for all those who work and live in this great town. A tremendous amount of hard work, skill and dedication has made Warsaw and the orthopedics industry what it is today. Many people around the world enjoy a better quality of life due to the tireless efforts of the skilled individuals who contribute everyday to designing, creating, and manufacturing new innovations.
Everyone in this industry works hard. I have had the pleasure of working in Warsaw most of my life, with Zimmer while attending Purdue, and later DePuy before starting OrthoPediatrics. The only place I could confidently build a standalone company solely dedicated to developing orthopedic devices for children, from concept to market, is Warsaw. The dedication, expertise and passion that the people of this community have for making life-changing orthopedic implants is unmatched, and will hopefully continue to be for decades to come. As such, I, as well as the other executive leaders in Warsaw, will continue working with AdvaMed, a trade association for the medical device industry, and our local congressional leaders to make our case known regarding the Baucus bill. This is a community issue that could potentially affect everyone. I urge anyone who benefits from the orthopedic and medical device industry, from employees to patients, to play an active role by contacting Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar and Congressman Souder. They need to know where this community stands.
