Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines announced it has joined with Shriners Children’s Twin Cities to provide pediatric orthopedic care in Central Iowa. The new Blank Children’s Orthopaedic Clinic will be a full-time clinic located on the Blank Children’s Hospital campus. Physicians for this clinic will be provided by Shriners Children’s and will provide a wide range of pediatric orthopedic care including fractures, hip dysplasia, spine conditions, cerebral palsy, issues that arise due to gait abnormality and more. The clinic held a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, and will begin seeing patients on Monday. The senior pediatric orthopedic physician for the clinic is Dr. Lael Luedtke, who brings 26 years of pediatric orthopedic experience. She is a graduate of Williams College and completed medical school at the University of Minnesota. She continued her medical training as a resident in orthopedic surgery and fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Shannon O’Brien will join Dr. Luedtke as the second physician in the practice. She has been practicing in orthopedics for 18 years and her special interests include fractures, skeletal dysplasia, correction of angular abnormalities and scoliosis.