At Central Indiana Orthopedics, we believe being involved in the community strengthens the relationships our physicians and staff have with our patients and their families. Many of our physicians live in the areas they work in, so it’s their desire to provide support outside the physical walls of the practices and keep those communities thriving through efforts like sponsorships, donations and outreach. Drs. Steve Herbst and Scott Waterman recently sat down to discuss community involvement, a core value at Central Indiana Orthopedics, and why it’s important to them personally and professionally. What they had to say is a perfect reflection of our corporate values and great examples of how we all work to put those values into practice.
Coming from a military background, Dr. Waterman has a desire to serve others. While he’s lived in several areas around the United States, he and his family moved from Texas to Indiana in 2015, and they joke that each day is a new record of how long they’ve stayed in one place. “The values of the Midwest drew me in, and once living in Muncie, we knew we were in the right place,” Dr. Waterman said.
Since moving to Indiana, Dr. Waterman has had the opportunity to combine his interest in sports and passion for giving back by being one of the Team Physicians for Ball State Athletics and Yorktown High School. With that commitment comes a lot of travel and many evening and weekend hours away from home, often missing personal commitments or time with family.
“I know how committed you are to Ball State, Dr. Waterman, and I’ve seen you put a lot of time on the road,” Dr. Herbst said. “I also know you to be an awesome family guy, so how do you find a balance between personal and professional obligations?”
Dr. Waterman says he tries to instill those values in his kids. “It’s important for me to be able to involve my family when I can. Oftentimes, my son is standing next to me on the sidelines at Yorktown High School while I’m covering a game,” Dr. Waterman shared. “While there are times when I do have to miss a family gathering or a sporting event, it’s important for my kids to understand that I’m doing something I believe in.”
Outside of treating the athlete’s injury, Dr. Waterman says he simply wants the players to be taken care of like he would want to be taken care of if he were in their situation. “While it’s important to be involved, it’s not just about having signs up in the stadium or on the court, but actually physically being there – a face-to-face interaction and getting to know all the people involved in the athlete’s care to ensure a personalized process,” Dr. Waterman shared. “Athletic trainers, coaches, parents – it’s a teamwork approach, and I enjoy creating relationships with them all.”
In addition to Dr. Waterman’s involvement with local sports teams, several other CIO physicians are proudly involved locally as a Team Physician, and many CIO athletic trainers are dedicated to providing athletic training outreach to local high schools and club sports, covering many evening and weekend events. While athletic involvement is one area of our community commitment, we are passionate about assisting people of all ages, occupations and needs, which is why you may see us out at local events, chatting with people about what aches or pains may be bothering them and seeing how we can help. “We love partnering with organizations that are committed to keeping people healthy and moving, such as the local YMCAs and Cardinal Greenways, as they align with our same values of getting people back to doing what they love and helping people remain active,” said Dr. Herbst.
One of the most rewarding things about living in the same communities as our patients is having the opportunity to see them outside the office and build on the connections we’ve developed during their treatment journey. “When you’re on a field trip with your family and the person sitting next to you is someone you saw in the office two weeks ago and they’re doing well, it helps make me a better physician because I see the improvement in real time,” Dr. Waterman said. “It really pushes you to do well.”
Dr. Herbst added that while we may fix someone’s extremity, there’s more to it than that. “Not only do you fix the extremity, but you also fix the heart and mind of someone who’s been debilitated for a while,” Dr. Herbst said. “Connecting with them out in the community, you get to see the smile returning to their face and see the change you’ve made in their life. Seeing them at the grocery, at the gym, on the golf course, with restored function and a love for life again – it doesn’t get any better than that.”
While the majority of our outreach efforts take place in our local communities, several of our physicians, especially Dr. Herbst, have a passion for international mission work. For many years, Dr. Herbst has been involved in traveling internationally to third-world countries to help perform life-changing orthopedic surgeries. His most recent trip was to Antigua, Guatemala, where he and over 40 members of Team Hope in Motion initiated the transformation of 65 lives, performing orthopedic surgeries of the knee, hip and foot and ankle. The team included a mix of orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, physical therapists, nurses and logistics folks. “Traveling with Team Hope in Motion, formerly Operation Walk, provides a great chance to share expertise and help people who may not have opportunities otherwise,” Dr. Herbst said. “In most recent years, we’ve returned to the same place, so we’ve been able to develop relationships with the hospital staff and people we’ve operated on in the past.”
Since Dr. Herbst is so involved in international outreach, years ago he proposed to instill a system that allowed CIO staff to take time off to pursue mission work without feeling the financial loss of being off work. He proposed something called Policy On Overhead Relief (POOR), which gave staff a small financial relief from missing work while they went on mission trips. “I was blown away when I presented this to the rest of the CIO Board, and the decision to support this idea was unanimous from our physicians,” Dr. Herbst said. “I knew I was with a bunch of other physicians who wanted to give back.”
From fundraising to volunteering to outreach events and sponsorships, we love our communities! “The outpouring of love and support I’ve witnessed over the past several years shows me the heart CIO has for their local communities,” Dr. Herbst said. A heartfelt THANK YOU to our physicians and staff for their time and efforts to help keep the areas we all live and work in thriving for as long as possible.