Dr. Steven Kitchen Retiring

Dr. Steven Kitchen, Orthopedic Surgeon at Memorial Community Hospital & Health System (MCH), will be retiring soon from a long career in orthopedics. His last day at MCH will be May 16th.  Kitchen, who joined MCH in January 2019, has been a physician with Rural Partners in Medicine, an organization of doctors who provide care and services to rural facilities where advanced care is not always available. As a member of that group, Dr. Kitchen traveled to the Blair Specialty Clinic to provide specialty care. Providing full orthopedic services, including comprehensive surgical procedures, Dr. Kitchen has performed 14 total hip replacements 54 total knee replacements in Blair since May of 2019. His expertise in this field has been a wonderful addition and he will be missed by his team at MCH.  “Dr. Kitchen was the first Orthopedic Surgeon to bring joint replacement and other comprehensive orthopedic surgeries to Blair. He laid the ground work for our ongoing program and his knowledge and easy bedside manner will be sorely missed. I wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement,” said Manny Banner, President and CEO of MCH.  Dr. Kitchen has contributed to the growth of orthopedics since his arrival which has also had an impact on the inpatient census as well as the Physical and Occupational Therapy Services at MCH.  Dr. Kitchen worked closely with the therapy team as part of his patients’ continuation of care.  This, of course, has led to great growth in therapy services as well.  MCH is in the process of bringing another orthopedic surgeon who specializes in general orthopedics as well as joint replacements on board, to join Dr. Thomas Saylor who specializes in the shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist and hand and Dr. Daniel Ocel who is a renowned specialist in leg, foot and ankle injuries and disorders as well as in sports medicine.