When cortisone injections for the pain in Mary Hoffman’s right knee were no longer effective, the retired administrative assistant from Murrells Inlet decided it was time for knee replacement surgery.
“I couldn’t go to the gym or walk the beach, and I could hardly make it to the mailbox,” says the 65-year-old grandmother of three. “My X-rays showed it was bone on bone. The pain was awful.”
Tidelands Health orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Rowley successfully performed Hoffman’s knee replacement surgery in February. The day after her surgery, Hoffman began physical therapy at Tidelands Health Rehabilitation Services at The Market Common, which is located on the same floor as Dr. Rowley’s orthopedics practice at Tidelands Health Medical Park at The Market Common in Myrtle Beach.
“While I was there for my physical therapy, Dr. Rowley came over and checked on me and asked how I was doing,” Hoffman says. “It sure made me feel a lot better to know my doctor could come over and talk to me if I had a question. It makes you feel a lot more secure.”

Hoffman was thankful that she was able to undergo physical therapy in the same state-of-the-art, 65,000-square-foot facility where her orthopedic surgeon provides care. In addition to offering orthopedics and rehabilitation, Tidelands Health Medical Park at The Market Common brings together a broad array of other types of care under the same roof, including primary care, cardiology, gastroenterology, outpatient surgery and much more.

Hoffman visits the medical park, located just off Highway 17 in Myrtle Beach, for nearly all her medical needs.
“It is super that we can go to just one place for everything we need,” Hoffman says. “It is a lot more convenient.”
Not only is access to care convenient at the medical park, the grouping of so many types of health care services in one facility allows clinicians from a variety of disciplines to work closely together to develop and implement a patient’s treatment plan.

“We can really maintain a high level of care when it’s streamlined in one facility,” says Dr. Rowley. “It’s a concept that affords us better control of services under direct supervision and adds convenience for the patient. It’s really a nice benefit.”
Facilities like the Tidelands Health Medical Park at The Market Common are the wave of the future, Dr. Rowley adds.
“These can be built within the community so patients can literally walk over or drive their golf carts,” he says. “They don’t have to get on the highway to seek care in an adjacent city. I think you’ll see more of these in a community setting with all services available in one place.”

After more than a month of physical therapy three times a week with her physical therapist, Tracy Paquette, Hoffman is now walking unassisted around the house and with a cane when away from home.
“I’m doing really well,” Hoffman says. “Everybody I’ve done therapy with has just been fantastic. They really work you out, but the benefit is so worth it.”
Hoffman and her husband, Gary, retired and moved to the Palmetto State four years ago from Virginia.
“We’ve been coming to the area for 30 years,” she says. “We knew we’d be retiring here.”

The couple enjoy going to the beach, browsing antique shops, watching live music and dining out. The Marshwalk in Murrells Inlet is one of their favorite places. They also enjoy taking road trips to spend time with family and friends in Virginia and Maryland.
Hoffman says she’s looking forward to visiting her grandchildren and getting back to the gym, somewhere she and her husband seek to go at least three times a week.
“I’ve been making plans, and I can’t wait to get back at it,” Hoffman says.