How did your business begin and how has it changed?
In 1981, Richard Davis, M.D., founded Midlands Orthopaedics with a vision to build a private surgical practice on the expertise of physicians who all completed fellowship training in a sub-specialty of orthopedics following their residencies. While fellowship training is commonplace now, it was the exception then. Orthopaedic sub-specialties include total joint replacement, sports medicine, foot and ankle, spine, trauma, hand and upper extremity (elbow to shoulder), and pediatrics. All the practice’s orthopedic surgeons have completed a fellowship in one of these sub-specialties.
Dr. Davis established the current downtown clinic on the corner of Blanding and Gregg streets in 1986 to be located near Baptist, Providence, and Richland Memorial Hospitals. In what is now called Columbia’s Robert Mills Historic District, the office sits among “approximately 113 historic structures that embody over 300 years of diverse residential and institutional architecture,” as the Historic Columbia Foundation describes the district. In the early 1990s, Midlands Orthopaedics expanded to add additional clinic space facing Gregg Street. In 2006, Midlands Orthopaedics Surgery Center opened on the site of a vacant tire facility to offer patients an opportunity to receive surgery in a free-standing ambulatory setting devoted to orthopaedic procedures. In recent years, our little quadrant of the Robert Mills Historic District has been enhanced by new neighbors who have brought stability and beautification to the area.
In 2016, our practice merged with Columbia Neurosurgical Associates to become Midlands Orthopaedics & Neurosurgery. Our independent medical practice enables us to serve patients at Columbia’s excellent hospitals when that level of care is required or at The Surgery Center when same day surgery is appropriate. As part of Columbia’s downtown landscape for more than 35 years, we are pleased to contribute to the City of Columbia’s tax base and to employ more than 150 team members. Like Columbia, Midlands Orthopaedics & Neurosurgery has transformed, and we’re eager to see what the future holds for us both!
