After his first trip to Andalusia for an interview, Dr. Patrick Kelly told his fiancée, “That’s it. We’re not going to interview anywhere else.”

Kelly opened his orthopedic practice this week.

“There are great people here,” he said. “There is a really warm, family feeling, and that’s what we liked.”

He said there were two things that influenced his decision to choose orthopedics as his area of specialty.

“My dad had his hip replaced in early 1970s,” he said. “He really didn’t have a successful result. He ended up having seven surgeries.

“I wanted to make that better for people,” he said.

His decision was confirmed when, as a medical student, an intern at the hospital invited him to watch a back surgery.

The orthopedic surgeon shaved the iliac crest (part of the hip bone), ground it up, and used it in reconstructive surgery.

“It was like carpentry work, putting people back together,” Kelly recalled. Near the end of the process, the surgeon turned to the intern, who had turned green and asked how he liked the procedure. Then he turned to Kelly.

“I loved it,” he said. “I couldn’t have chosen a better field for me. I love what I do.”

Technology is constantly changing orthopedic procedures, he said, adding that it makes the field more exciting.

A native of the Dallas area, Dr. Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree at Ohio University. He later earned his Doctor of Osteopathy from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri. He interned at the Tri-City Hospital in Dallas, Texas, and completed his orthopedic residency in Kansas City, Mo. He is a member of the American Osteopathic Association and the American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics.

He enjoys playing drums, biking, golf and hunting.