Barbara Hoffman grew up in Utica, Pennsylvania, attending Franklin High School and eventually Gannon University. But first, she spent a year at Clarion studying education. It didn’t take long — within that first year, in fact — to determine she wanted to go into the medical field. She’d always enjoyed taking care of her horses, but knew she didn’t want to be a vet. Eventually, these are the elements that would lead her to a career path as a Certified Physician Assistant.
Hoffman first worked in internal medicine/pulmonary for 12 years. Once her children started school, she started looking for employment that was closer to home, and fortunately, the Whole Health Joint Replacement Institute was only 15 minutes from home. Hoffman was used to referring her patients to Dr. Phillip A. Frndak (who we recently profiled) for hip and knee replacements when employed at Chest Medicine Associates. She always wants to work for someone who cared deeply for their patients as well as their wellbeing, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Hoffman’s first job gave her a strong background in many aspects of the medical field, and switching paths to orthopedics allowed her to build on that foundation and ensure the patients she sees are always healthy and well enough to go into surgery. Now, providing conservative treatment and care, Hoffman gets to not only play a crucial role in her patients feeling better, but making sure they continue to feel better. Her favorite part of the job is seeing patients come back from surgery and being able to return to the activities they loved before their joint replacement – a common benefit for many providers.
“Physician assistants are very well-trained to take care of those experiencing medical complications or issues,” Hoffman says. “We’re able to take the time necessary to make sure all of our patients’ questions are answered. We really do care for our patients, and we do our best to make sure they are as functional as possible following their procedure.”
Hoffman enjoys several outdoor activities in her spare time and is particularly fond of watching her children play sports. She has a son who plays volleyball and basketball and a daughter who plays volleyball, softball, and show horses.
About Direct Anterior Hip Replacements & Total Hip Replacements in Erie, Pa
Barbara Hoffman is one member of the expert team employed by Whole Health to make our patients’ direct anterior hip replacements successful. Direct anterior hip replacements, or total hip replacements, are minimally invasive procedures during which the incision is made in an area that is 100% respectful to patient anatomy, where there are no muscles or tendons that are cut with less tissue damage and blood loss. This also allows for a significantly faster recovery. This procedure also typically does not require postoperative physical therapy. Whole Health has completed over 2,500 of these minimally invasive total hip replacement surgeries and counting.
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