Hampton Roads Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine
When he was in high school, Melvin Palmer wasn’t entirely sure where his career path would lead him, but he did know that his path would start with a stint in the service of his country. His father was in the Air Force, and when Melvin graduated from York High School in 1987, he enlisted in the Army as a combat medic. “The combat portion wasn’t my first choice,” he says, but the recruiters showed him a video with “all these medics in white uniforms going through the clinics taking care of patients,” he remembers, “and I said yes right away. That’s what I wanted to do.” After basic training, he says, he realized that medicine was going to be his profession.
In fact, it was during his tenure as an Army medic at Fort Drum, NY, that he was introduced to the Physician Assistant profession. On the Base Clinic, he met a PA who described the profession to him. “She told me that as a PA, I could practice medicine and take care of patients under the supervision of a physician, whether I stayed in the military or as a civilian,” he says.
It was a long road, but he never took his eyes off the prize. He served two tours and left the Army in 1996, and immediately began working as a Certified Surgical Technologist at Syracuse University Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center. “But I always wanted to return home to Virginia,” he says, and in 2002, when the opportunity came to take a position at Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, he took it. It was a travel assignment, and while it was gratifying work, he knew he wanted to pursue the PA program. A little less than a year later, he was offered a permanent position at Mary Immaculate Hospital’s Surgical Pavilion, which gave him the opportunity to both work and go to school.
In December of 2008, Mr. Palmer earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Old Dominion University, and in May of 2012, a Masters of Physician Assistant at Eastern Virginia Medical School. His clinical rotations included critical care, plastic and reconstructive surgery, pediatrics, internal and family medicine, women’s health – and orthopaedic surgery. “I liked all of it, and found emergency medicine extremely interesting,” he remembers, “but when it came time to choose, orthopaedic surgery tugged on my heart, and I knew that’s where I belonged.”
He had assisted in many orthopaedic surgeries as an OR tech, but what appealed to him most was the opportunity to experience the entire spectrum of care from beginning to end. “I wanted to see the gamut of patients, those who presented with painful joints or severe back pain, to see what we could offer them other than surgery,” he says, “as well as those who were at the point where they were lying on an operating table.” He always wanted to play a bigger role in care, outside of surgery.
And he was fortunate: he met Dr. John Aldridge, who was attracted to his easy-going personality, and recruited him to join Hampton Roads Orthpaedics & Sports Medicine. “My goal is always to instill confidence in our patients and to play a pivotal role in their care,” Palmer says. “We treat a variety of orthopaedic and sports medicine problems, from fracture care to joint and lumbar diseases. More recently, we’ve been performing sacroiliac joint fusions, which gives us the opportunity to provide relief for patients with severe, non-neurogenic back pain. We’ve had tremendous outcomes, and we’re very proud of that. I’m right where I belong.”
