Operation Walk USA

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP—Anyone who is friends with Betty Morgan knows about her passion for horses and riding.

Morgan has been a therapeutic horseback riding instructor for children and adults with disabilities for more than 10 years. She’s been able to share her love and expertise about horses with others in her community, but a bad hip has held her back from more—until now.

Morgan, 52, of Mullica Township, received a new hip, replacement surgery and recovery care Tuesday at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center—Mainland Campus free of charge as the first patient candidate in New Jersey to benefit from Operation Walk USA, a volunteer medical service organization.

“I was in a lot of pain right up until the surgery, and I was thinking, ‘How am I going to go on like this? How will I get through the winter?’” Morgan said. “When I went to Dr. (Zachary) Post, he said, ‘You need a new hip and we’re going to make it happen,’ and I just started crying.”

Morgan and her husband, Joseph “Jay” Morgan, Jr., do not have their own health insurance and have paid for annual health visits and minor procedures out of pocket.

Since getting diagnosed with arthritis in her hip several years ago, Morgan has managed the pain by limiting physical activity and getting cortisone injections. The couple had not even considered surgery before, knowing the estimated $40,000 replacement was out of their reach, she said.

Her surgery Tuesday and release from the hospital Wednesday afternoon was made possible after Rothman Institute Orthopedics and AtlantiCare partnered with Operation Walk USA to select a patient candidate who could benefit from a free procedure.

Operation Walk USA takes place every December by providing and facilitating knee or hip surgery, hospitalization, materials, pre- and post-operative care to patients who may not qualify for government health coverage, have no insurance or cannot otherwise afford surgery on their own.

Experts at Rothman and AtlantiCare Community Health Services at the healthplex in Atlantic City worked together to select Morgan as the first recipient in New Jersey to get covered under the national program.

“While the condition won’t kill you, it can affect your lifestyle if you don’t have the financial means to pay for a replacement,” said Post, a Rothman orthopedic surgeon at AtlantiCare. “A replacement can help people go back to the lifestyle they were living before, but it sometimes doesn’t get covered.”

Post and other surgeons perform several hundred hip replacements a year at AtlantiCare’s Musculoskeletal Institute, including Morgan’s procedure that included an anterior hip replacement, which should need minimal recovery time and little to no physical therapy.

Post said the hospital's participation in the program was a good way to give back, especially to someone like Morgan.

 In addition to helping children and adults with disabilities at the Hearts Therapeutic Riding Center in Egg Harbor Township, Morgan volunteers for the South Jersey Horse Rescue and the Atlantic County 4-H, where she helps kids learn equestrian skills.

She also works as a school bus driver during the school year, transporting kids in the Downbeach area.

Before the surgery, Morgan’s hip pain became so severe at times that she would have to limit her training with a rider, or she would get stuck in a paddock, unable to move lift her leg and crying out of pain and frustration.

But the new year will bring new opportunities as Morgan said she looks forward to moving without pain, training her own horses and working with adults and children who are recovering from and treating injuries, diseases, developmental disorders and physical impairments.

“I’m so grateful,” Morgan said. “I didn’t think it was in the cards for me before, but this has really changed my life.”

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/mullica-horseback-riding-instructor-first-in-n-j-to-get/article_c7f0442b-9e7c-5daf-ad37-eb62b0272911.html