Rose Medical Center recently enjoyed a unique visit to its Institute for Joint Replacement - sisters Barb Kennedy-Drew and Sherri Showalter, who wanted knee replacement surgery on the same day by the same doctor, and also wanted to recover in the same room at the hospital.

Barb had her first knee replacement five months ago by Dr. Dennis Chang at the Rose Institute for Joint Replacement and had a positive experience. Her sister, Sherri, met Dr. Chang before Barb's first surgery and still remembers their first conversation.

"I asked him how many surgeries has he done, and he told me it was his first one!" Sherri said. "Dr. Chang said that he was going to take the book into the surgery with him in case he needed help. I totally bought it, and only realized he was kidding when I saw my sister laughing."

After Barb saw how quickly she recovered from the first surgery and began enjoying a "pain-free" knee, she scheduled to have her second knee replaced. Sherri decided that this would be an ideal time for her to have her first knee replacement as well. Barb and Sherri scheduled their surgeries for the same day, both to be done by Dr. Chang. During their recovery, they requested that they stay in the same double room at Rose Medical Center.

"Knee replacement is really a whole different ball game when you do it with your sister," said Barb. "We've just had so much fun - especially sharing a room again like we did when we were kids."

The Rose Institute for Joint Replacement offers renowned board certified surgeons to assist patients in a return to a healthy lifestyle. More than 5,000 joint replacement surgeries have been performed at the institute in the past five years; more than any other Denver metro hospital. Barb said that she after having both her knees replaced at the institute, she knows that this is the place to come if you need this type of surgery, and her sister agreed.

"Once we get through our rehab on these knees, I plan to come back and have my other knee replaced," Sherri said. "Then we'll look to take a nice vacation together and play some golf again! We've missed it!"