Milwaukee -- Aurora Health Care produced a live “twitter-cast” of a bi-lateral knee replacement this morning. This first, in Wisconsin, was a successful educational broadcast that helped to reach thousands of viewers.

During the surgery, Aurora caregivers posted updates as “tweets” and answered questions from people before, during, and after the procedure.

Aurora’s total number of Twitter followers grew from 930 followers last week to this morning where it registered 1,700 followers. Then, from 7:30AM to 11:00AM the number spiked to 2,240. Followers included patients, press, doctors, staff, and other hospitals, to name a few.

During the surgery, Aurora posted more than 250 tweets and received 180 replies with questions and comments. Aurora also saw its content being shared more than 75 times through re-tweets to other networks.

News of Aurora’s live surgery on Twitter traveled quickly alerting representatives of the show, “Good Morning America” who then covered the surgery on a segment (www.goodmorningamerica.com).

“This was an educational experience not only for the thousands of audience members, but for Aurora as well,” said Jeff Smith, vice president of medical affairs at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center. “This event helped us to better identify the information people need to alleviate fears, dispel myths, and learn about a potential procedure.”

Following the operation, orthopedic surgeon, Joel Wallskog, M.D., deemed the surgery smooth and successful.

It is believed that today’s experience will lead to future “twitter-casts” by Aurora Health Care.

Aurora Health Care is a not-for-profit health care provider and a nationally recognized leader in efforts to improve the quality of health care. Aurora offers services at sites in more than 90 communities throughout eastern Wisconsin.

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Contact:

Peter Balistrieri
Cell: 262-510-8082
Office: 262-896-6449

Adam Beeson
847-867-0048
414-649-3915