The new surgeon at St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center knew what she wanted — a facility where she could practice general surgery, with a subspecialty in breast surgery.
“The recruiter said, ‘I have just the place for you,’” recalled Dr. Ana Paula Refinetti.
“And he was right; St. Rose is the perfect match.”
Dr. Refinetti recently moved to Great Bend to open her practice at Central Kansas Surgical Care, which is part of the St. Rose family. She will share offices with Dr. Tatiana Kovtoun in the Medical Office Building on the west side of St. Rose.
Patients are already being scheduled for Dr. Refinetti’s first day of seeing patients, Thursday, Sept. 13.
Her office will officially open Sept. 10.
“I do a wide range of general surgery procedures, including those involving bowel resections, gallbladders and hernias, as well as the removal of skin lesions,” Dr. Refinetti said. “As a breast surgeon, I manage a variety of breast-related symptoms such as lumps and discharge, in addition to cancer.
“If a patient has an abnormal mammogram, we will work closely with the patient’s regular doctor and radiologist to come up with a treatment plan,” she said. “Sometimes, patients don’t have any breast disease but do have a family history of breast cancer. I will counsel these patients too.”
Dr. Refinetti does not perform cosmetic or breast reconstruction surgery. A plastic surgeon is contacted for those procedures.
The surgeon said she is glad to be at St. Rose because one-day surgeries represent a trend in today’s health-care system that will continue into the future.
“We need facilities that concentrate on one-day surgery,” she said. “The professional personnel at St. Rose have a lot of experience in this area and provide top-notch care.”
Dr. Refinetti also noted that she has developed a good rapport with Dr. Kovtoun and that everyone at St. Rose has been helpful.
“It is good to feel welcome and know that everyone is available to make this a smooth transition. Everyone here is interested in one thing – doing everything we can to provide high-quality patient care.”
Dr. Refinetti is a 2004 medical school graduate of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Her general surgery internship was completed in 2007 at Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami. She finished her general surgery residency in 2011 at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
Her breast surgery fellowship was completed last month at New York University in New York City. She is a resident member of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.
For information, call the Central Kansas Surgical Care, 620-792-1227.