Cambridge Bone & Joint mixes small-town feel and high-tech care

Heather Sevigny
·4 min read

CAMBRIDGE − Residents of Guernsey County no longer have to look outside the county for a local orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Vanessa Voytko is on a mission to bring back the personal, one-on-one medical service of days past.

Voytko is a 2006 graduate of Meadowbrook High School and spent her childhood growing up in Byesville. After graduating, she attended the University of Akron for undergraduate work and continued with medical school at the Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine.

Her interest in orthopedic surgery started in her teenage years. At just 15, Voytko suffered an injury that tore her ACL.

Dr. Vanessa Voytko, left, opened Cambridge Bone & Joint, an orthopedic clinic in Cambridge, in November. A Guernsey County native, Voytko wanted to bring back the personal, one-on-one medical service of days past to her community.
Dr. Vanessa Voytko, left, opened Cambridge Bone & Joint, an orthopedic clinic in Cambridge, in November. A Guernsey County native, Voytko wanted to bring back the personal, one-on-one medical service of days past to her community.

She had to travel to Zanesville for surgery. Dr. Brautigan, of Orthopaedic Associates of Zanesville, performed the surgery. After she recovered and obtained her driver's license, she would go to Zanesville to visit Brautigan. He let her shadow his work, and get a first-hand view of everything that goes into being an orthopedic surgeon.

"I knew I wanted to do orthopedics. Then the more I got into looking at different locations and or practices and whatnot, I ended up going to medical school at NEOMED. They have a huge focus on rural medicine, primary care, and underserved areas," Voytko said.

Cambridge Bone & Joint is located at 1454 Clark St. Dr. Vanessa Voytko and her family remodeled the former dental clinic into her orthopedic clinic.
Cambridge Bone & Joint is located at 1454 Clark St. Dr. Vanessa Voytko and her family remodeled the former dental clinic into her orthopedic clinic.

She completed her surgical rotations in rural northeast Ohio areas such as Boardman and Kent. "A lot of our rotations were small-town hospitals and I liked the feel of it. I liked being able to operate with people that you saw every day, that you talked to. You weren't a number or a revolving door," she added.

Barberton, Wadsworth and the Crystal Clinic were a few of the hospitals she served during that time. Eventually, her heart and passion brought her back home to Guernsey County.

"I wanted to be able to take care of patients in this area that I knew either had to be shipped out or they're maybe bringing in an orthopedic surgeon that stays for a couple of years. They just don't have consistent care," Voytko said.

Since Cambridge Bone & Joint opened in November, the practice has been busy. Voytko attributes some of that busyness to already having an established relationship with patients in the area, as she previously worked at Orthopedic Associates of Zanesville and with OhioHealth. Her relaxed nature and confidence seem to be a contributing factor to the practice's success. "We've been very busy and very lucky to be so busy."

When it comes to her client base, Voytko sees a wide range of patients. "We see everything from 2 and 3 year olds with tiny little toddler fractures up to an 85 year old that just broke a hip. It's kind of a full array. I think most people in small towns have to be able to take care of a little bit of everything."

Voytko loves her work and her procedure is doing total knee replacements. Voytko does Zimmer Biomet smart knee replacements and can receive data directly from the patient's knee. The knee has a microchip that can connect to an app on the patient's phone. Once the patient walks past a receiver in their home, the chip activates and sends pertinent information to the cloud.

Data about the patient's health can then be relayed to their doctor. Number of steps taken, information about the patient's gait, whether there is a limp present, the range of motion, and more is then viewed by both doctor and patient. According to Voytko, "It has helped greatly with therapy and just their immediate feedback. That information has been super helpful."

The large X-Ray machine at Cambridge Bone & Joint allows patients to receive services without traveling to another location.
The large X-Ray machine at Cambridge Bone & Joint allows patients to receive services without traveling to another location.

Voytko's parents are still in the area and her mother currently works at People's Bank. Voytko lives locally with her wife, Melissa. Together they have two daughters and juggle work, school, activities and family life.

Transforming the office space was a huge family endeavor. The building previously housed Dr. Joseph Fanti's dental clinic. Removal of the old dental clinic equipment, landscaping, painting and new flooring were all done by the family. "There's a good bit of sweat equity in this. We were here trying to gut the place."

Voytko's roots run deep in Guernsey County, and her practice is an extension of those roots.

"The greatest honor that I can have is people entrusting me to be able to take care of their loved ones. You know everyone around here, right? So you treat everybody like family. That's why I'm home. That's why I'm here. That's why I don't want to go to a big city. I had the opportunity to and I chose not to."

Cambridge Bone & Joint is located at 1454 Clark St. in Cambridge. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. For more information, call 740-421-4972 or visit https://cambridgeboneandjoint.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Guernsey County native returns to open orthopedic clinic