Diversity
Health Equity

Surgical Outreach Day for Hands

Founded in 2017, Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Outreach Day provides orthopaedic surgical treatment for uninsured and underinsured patients in the Middle Tennessee area. Vanderbilt University Medical Center employees provide surgical services, treating subacute and chronic orthopaedic conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and trigger fingers. In 2021 it was expanded to include sports orthopaedic procedures on the knee and shoulder.

These debilitating conditions frequently fall within a medical care gap that is typically not surgically managed in the free clinic or the emergency department setting. Orthopaedics partners closely with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Shade Tree Clinic, as well as other community clinics in the Middle Tennessee area. To date, in six annual Outreach Days, the department has provided free surgeries to 76 patients.

Metrics of an Outreach Mission
Vanderbilt Health Discoveries in Medicine