GREENEVILLE – Community members will have access to high-quality and convenient orthopedic care with a new walk-in clinic Watauga Orthopaedics and Tusculum University have teamed to open on campus.
Dr. Scott Hummel, left, president of Tusculum University, and Kim Marden, CEO of Watauga Orthopaedics, pose together before the event.
Watauga Orthopaedics and Tusculum University officials and elected leaders participate in the ribbon cutting.
The clinic will open Monday, Aug. 5, at the entrance on the ground floor of Tusculum’s state-of-the-art Meen Center. Watauga Orthopaedics will operate the clinic, which will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and provide a vast array of services to the community as well as to Tusculum faculty, staff and students. Expanded hours might become available in the future.
Representatives of Watauga Orthopaedics and Tusculum, along with community leaders, celebrated the new clinic at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, Aug. 1.
“We are thrilled to open this location at the university and deliver exceptional orthopedic and sports medicine care to those who live and work in Greene County as well as to the Tusculum family,” said Kim Marden, CEO of Watauga Orthopaedics. “As the region’s largest and most experienced independent orthopedic practice, we look forward to serving our patients and strengthening the quality of their lives. We are grateful to Tusculum University for its assistance in making this clinic a reality.”
Watauga Orthopaedics will work hand-in-hand with Tusculum as the practice serves its patients. The university helped renovate the space in the Meen Center and will provide ongoing facilities management support to the regional orthopedic practice.
“Watauga Orthopaedics is an outstanding practice that transforms people’s lives by improving their mobility,” said Dr. Scott Hummel, Tusculum’s president. “Our university is proud to support the orthopedics field with our excellent sport science program and our new pre-athletic training degree. We are delighted this highly respected practice has selected our campus for this clinic, and we look forward to working with its caregivers.”
Guests at the ribbon-cutting ceremony look at the physical therapy room.
Aubrey Lawson, left, X-ray technician, and Trey Smotherman, IT applications manager, both with Watauga Orthopaedics, stand in the X-ray room.
Among the conditions Watauga Orthopaedics can treat at the Tusculum facility are sprains, strains, closed fractures, tendon and ligament injuries, dislocations, arthritis, muscle and joint pain, sports injuries, workers’ comp injuries and post-operative needs. This facility will also have X-ray services and on-site physical therapy.
Watauga Orthopaedics, founded in 1950, offers a seamless continuum of care for more specialized needs at the practice’s other offices in the region in Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol. At these offices, patients will have access to fellowship-trained orthopedic specialists for the following parts of the body:
- Neck/Back/Spine
- Shoulder/Elbow
- Hand/Wrist
- Hip/Knee
- Foot/Ankle
Most patients requiring an operation can be scheduled at the Center for Advanced Bone and Joint Surgery in Kingsport, which Watauga Orthopaedics owns and manages. In addition, Watauga Orthopaedics provides free and fast orthopedic advice 24/7/365 with the HURT! App, available at https://www.poweredbyhurt.com/wataugaortho.
Chris Fleming, the leading professional who will serve patients in the Meen Center, recently posed in the new clinic on campus.
Dr. Eric Parks, an orthopedic physician with Watauga Orthopaedics, addresses the audience.
“Our comprehensive approach to care is a key component in the successful outcomes our patients receive,” said Dr. Eric Parks, an orthopedic physician for the practice, who also works closely with Tusculum’s athletic department. “We have an outstanding collaborative care team, and that will be reflected in the providers who serve our patients at Tusculum.
“Being able to partner with Tusculum on this project will benefit this center considerably and continue our tremendous relationship with the university. Watauga Orthopaedics is pleased to be entering its 19th year as a team physician for Tusculum athletics, and I am excited to be starting 16th year serving that program.”
The leading professional who will serve patients in the Meen Center is Chris Fleming, a physician assistant, who brings an extensive history of care in Greene County to this facility. He has served in various medical positions in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia for 27 years.
For the last seven years, Fleming has served as a physician assistant in various Ballad Health hospital emergency departments, including Greeneville Community Hospital. Before that, he was a physician assistant for three years exclusively at Greeneville Community Hospital’s emergency department. His career also includes three years with Takoma Regional Medical Group Orthopedics, three years at Takoma Regional Hospital and a year with Regional Orthopaedic Trauma Associates in Greeneville.
Left to right, Kim Marden, CEO of Watauga Orthopaedics; Leann Foltz, director of the practice’s surgery center; and Dr. Greg Stewart, the group’s president, speak with Dr. Scott Hummel, right, president of Tusculum University.
Earlier in his professional life, Fleming served as a physician assistant with Blue Ridge Medical Management Mountain States Medical Group Orthopedics and as the chief physician assistant at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport while serving with Regional Orthopaedic Trauma Associates.
Also serving at the Meen Center will be physical therapist Gregory McCloud, who has served with Watauga Orthopaedics in Bristol since 2022. He earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a doctor of physical therapy from East Tennessee State University.
“Opening this clinic is exciting because I will continue to serve Greene County residents with quality care while also experiencing the vibrant learning environment of the Tusculum campus,” Fleming said. “Watauga Orthopaedics is focused on delivering compassionate care that transitions patients from challenging physical circumstances to a more enjoyable and active life. We are an industry leader and committed to the communities and patients we serve with our compassionate care. Our team ensures patients have convenient access to coordinated, cutting-edge orthopedic care that is cost-effective.”
Additional information about Watauga Orthopaedics is available at https://www.wataugaortho.com/ or by calling 423-282-9011. To learn more about the university and its sport science program, please visit www.tusculum.edu.