Hello, New Patient!

For our first appointment, I'm reviewing your medical information provided to me by your doctor. This letter is to invite you to do some preparation work as well to make the most of our first meeting.

You likely have a number of questions and it will help for you to know a bit about orthopaedic treatment and what you can expect from it. Before we meet, you can access the free resources provided by the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation at www.canorth.org. These are reviewed by orthopaedic surgeons, so you can be confident the information is accurate and reliable. 

• Planning for Maximal Results Patient Booklet: Guides the reader from first consult to treatment to rehabilitation and restored mobility. While we've not yet determined if surgery is necessary for you, the booklet can help you to prepare your own medical history, list of medications, and other helpful information for our first appointment. 
• OrthoLink quarterly newsletter: Provides tips to help people build, keep, and restore their bone and joint health, and features real patient stories. 
• Ortho Connect peer support program: If surgery is confirmed, you can speak to a patient who has already been through the same treatment. This program connects new patients with trained volunteers (by phone) for real-world insight from a real-world patient perspective. Matches are made within 48 hours of the "request for service"; a form the new patient completes to ensure as many commonalities as possible with the volunteer. 

If you don't have access to the Internet, call the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation toll-free at 1-800-461-3639 to request the patient booklet or newsletter be mailed to you (Ortho Connect requests can be taken by phone). Allow two weeks for delivery.

With some preparation on both our parts, we'll make the very most of our time together!