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Right before Thanksgiving, residents of Farmville and Charlotte County had questions about what was happening with Centra’s Southside Orthopedic Practice. They had been informed it was shutting down and wondered what would take its place. According to what Centra officials told The Herald, patients will notice very little change. 

But first, the answer to what triggered the closing. Dr. William Andrews has been working with Centra Southside for years as an orthopedic physician, working alongside Dr. John Kona and William Fluker at the practice, but now he’s decided it’s time to retire. That caused somewhat of a domino effect. Now, to be clear, Centra Orthopedic isn’t shutting down immediately. The doors are still open and patients are still being seen. But that will change within the next 60 days. 

“Centra Southside leadership collaborated with Centra Service Line leaders to evaluate the current situation,” said Centra Communications Director Stephanie McBride. “(They determined) that the best way to continue providing this region of Centra’s service area with orthopedic care would be to strengthen the current alignment that Centra has with OrthoVirginia and close Centra’s Orthopedic Practice, located at Centra Southside Medical Center on January 31, 2024.” 

In other words, Centra’s orthopedic patients will be transferred to OrthoVirginia’s Farmville practice. That clinic is located at 1409 S. Main Street in Farmville. 

“Currently, OrthoVirginia is providing a limited number of orthopedic (OP) services to this region with the desire to expand these services,” McBride said. 

That includes physical therapy, non-surgical sports medicine and some imaging services. Centra recently renewed its contract with OrthoVirginia, expanding the partnership for orthopedic surgical services and advanced care options to include the Southside community. 

Centra officials said that while their orthopedic patients will transfer over, all physical therapy services won’t be affected by the change. They’ll continue to go to Southside Medical Center for treatment.