The pain started in 2008, occasional at first, then increasingly relentless, robbing him of his ability to enjoy life. Hiking became agony, climbing stairs difficult.
By last year Yakima resident Bob Cory, a retired utility manager at the Yakima Training Center who loves the outdoors, knew he had to do something about it. Fortunately, Cory is a man smart enough to take his own good advice: He made an appointment with Dr. Gary Bos of KVH Orthopedics.
Already acquainted, they’d met in 2012 when Cory’s late brother-in-law, Albert Schelert of Toppenish, then 85, was referred to Bos for a hip replacement. At the time, Bos was practicing in Yakima. Cory went with him to his appointments. “It was like being with a group of old friends but getting good medical advice,” Cory, now 69, says. “There are some doctors who care and some doctors who are just good. This doctor is good – and he cares. Everything turned out wonderful.”
Not shy about spreading the word, in the spring of 2014 when his sister, 74-year-old Ellen Davis of Zillah, needed knee surgery, Cory recommended Bos, by then practicing in Ellensburg. Davis had surgery last June at KVH Hospital.
Six months later, Cory followed suit. “My right knee had been wearing out. I’d let it go and let it go until I was in constant pain,” Cory says. “I was miserable.”
Cory calls Bos first class. So, Cory and his wife Sharon agree, is KVH Hospital.
“The hospital itself – from the front desk to the volunteers to all the staff to the people in the business office – are unbelievably prompt, efficient and fun to work with,” Cory says. “I’ve been in a number of hospitals and I have yet to see a better hospital for patient care.”
KVH also gets high marks for family care, the couple says. Sharon recalls how someone in a lab coat poked her head into the room where Sharon and her daughter were waiting to ask if they needed anything. “It wasn’t really her area but she was taking time to check in,” Sharon says. “The other thing I saw was that if Bob called someone came quickly.” And pleasantly, Cory adds.
“Service was so impeccable at every level,” Cory says. “And when I said ‘thank you’ they thanked me. They were thanking me for the opportunity to help me. It was an awesome experience.”
Three days after his surgery, Cory was home. Ten weeks later he was pain-free, walking two miles a day and among the ranks of those whose quality of life has been improved by Bos. “The lady across the street had her knee replaced (by Bos) this year,” he says, nodding at his neighbor’s home. “The lady next door is 72. After I had my knee done she called and wanted to know who did it. This past Wednesday she and her husband went to see Dr. Bos.”
Bos reviewed the woman’s x-rays, said he wanted to try Ibuprofen therapy and that he also wanted an MRI. Some places that might have meant another appointment, Cory says. Not at KVH Orthopedics.
“She told me he picked up the phone, made a call and got an MRI set up immediately,” Cory says. “She got the MRI, had lunch and went back to get the results.” Her reaction: “She’s saying, ‘I love this guy and the level of cooperation at KVH’.”
No surprise that, Cory adds. “He tries to make things as convenient as possible,” he tells those who ask, “and Ellensburg is just up the road.”