A Brief History of Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies

Note: This information draws on the work of retired physician Stanley W. Henson Jr. in his book “Touching Lives: A History of Medicine in Fort Collins”

Founders_of_OCR_Physicians

Retired surgeons Ben Magsamen, Charles Collopy (deceased), Robert Johnson, and Doug Murray (from left)

We’ve taken great pleasure in serving the people, families, sports teams, athletes, and schools of the region since our founding! 1969 was the year we began, using the name of Fort Collins Orthopedic Associates. The founders of the practice were Drs. Charles Collopy, Robert Johnson, Benedict Magsamen, and Douglas Murray.

The four physicians had come to Fort Collins separately in the 1960s, and after a few years in practice, they formed a partnership. The doctors were among the first orthopaedic specialists in the region, and helped pioneer the development of that patient care specialty.

Our four founders had varied backgrounds. Dr. Murray moved here from California after completing his MD and residency training at Stanford University.

Dr. Collopy was born in Fort Collins and graduated from the University of Denver and University of Colorado.

Dr. Johnson came to the area from the Air Force after residency training and medical school in Illinois.

Dr. Magsamen had served as an assistant professor of orthopaedics at Temple University in Philadelphia and team doctor for pro sports teams there.

Our founders not only led the development of the Orthopaedic Center and specialty services for patients, they also contributed to the enhancement of medical care for the region; over the years they or their spouses served on the board of directors for Poudre Valley Hospital, for instance.

In the 1970s, the physicians pioneered and supported such advances as open-operative and internal-fixative devices for trauma and fracture surgery, clean-air operating rooms with laminar-flow equipment for joint replacement operations at PVH, and arthroscopic surgery, using a surgical scope and small incisions to operate on damaged joints, such as the knee and shoulder. All these advances made the quality of surgery and patients’ recoveries markedly better.

Fort Collins Orthopedic Associates became the Orthopaedic Center of the Rockies in 1990, when the practice moved to its current location on East Prospect Road in Fort Collins.

The building included a Therapy Department with pools and a surgery center, which was expanded in 1999 with the addition of a third operating room and a 10-bed recovery center.

OCR opened a Loveland office in 1985 and later expanded to a larger building on Ginnala Drive (in 1997).

We built our current Loveland office and moved there in December 2009. Our address is 3470 East 15th Street. We’re located on U.S. 34 two miles west of I-25, across the highway from Mountain View High School.

In November 2009 the group’s partners changed our name to Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies, to emphasize the practice’s services for people with back and neck conditions and injuries.

As the area’s population and the demand for orthopaedic services grew, the number of doctors has increased to 29.

OCR also opened an office in Greeley in May 2016, to help serve the growing number of individuals who previously had driven to the offices in Fort Collins and Loveland for appointments.

Besides the four founding surgeons, physicians who have retired from OCR are: Drs. Jack Harvey, Dale Kaiser, Lee Grant, Roger Sobel, and Ken Duncan.

Of special note is the passing of Jim Horstman, MD, a partner who passed away in 2007 from cancer.

Dr. Charles Collopy passed away in 2016.

 

Jack Harvey, MD Dale Kaiser, MD Lee Grant, MD Roger Sobel, MD Ken Duncan, MD
From left to right: Jack Harvey, MD; Dale Kaiser, MD; Lee Grant, MD; Roger Sobel, MD; Ken Duncan, MD