Hilo Community Surgery Center — Hawai‘i Island

Hilo Community Surgery Center is where Dr. Morton performs Mako robotic hip and knee replacements on Hawai‘i Island — so for most Big Island patients, a routine joint replacement no longer means a flight to O‘ahu. Dr. Morton performs your operation himself. Every Mako hip and knee starts with a CT scan of your own joint — no IV contrast needed — which becomes the 3D model your implant sizes and positions are planned on before surgery day. In the operating room, the robotic arm holds the surgery to that plan.

Dr. Morton grew up in Kea‘au and performed the Big Island's first robotic-assisted joint replacement in March 2022. With Mako surgery in Hilo, most patients can keep the whole journey — consultation, surgery and recovery — on the island where they live.

Your procedure, your health and your insurance decide where your surgery happens. The surgery center has no overnight stay — everyone who has surgery here goes home the same day — so it is often a fit for:

Everything before and after surgery day happens at Pacific Bone & Joint's Big Island clinics — the Hilo clinic at 75 Puuhonu Pl, Suite 204, and the Kona clinic at 75-184 Hualalai Rd, Suite 205: your consultation, imaging review, pre-operative visit and follow-ups. Telehealth covers the gaps between clinic days. Before surgery you will also have the CT scan your Mako plan is built from, medical clearance from your primary care provider, and time to prehab and set up your home.

The surgery center is your surgical venue, not your clinic. Before surgery day, your coordinator confirms your arrival time, where to park and how to check in. Scheduled patients also get the full step-by-step guide in the Your Surgery Hub.

1. Arrive at your confirmed time with your companion. Bring a photo ID, your insurance card, your medication list and your CPAP if you use one; leave jewelry, valuables and contact lenses at home. Follow the eating and drinking cutoffs in your written instructions.
2. Safety checks. The team reviews your plan, confirms your procedure, marks the surgical site, and verifies your medications and allergies.
3. Anesthesia. Most patients have a spinal with light sedation plus nerve blocks, so pain is controlled while your legs can still work. General anesthesia is used when clinically indicated.
4. Mako robotic surgery. Dr. Morton performs your operation from the plan built on your CT, with muscle-sparing technique — a direct anterior approach for most hips, and a subvastus, tourniquet-free approach for knees when appropriate.
5. Up and walking. Most patients stand and walk within hours of surgery.
6. Home when you are ready. About 90% of Dr. Morton's patients go home the same day, once the discharge milestones below are met.

Nobody goes home on a timer. You are discharged when you are medically stable, your pain is controlled with your pill plan, you are awake and alert, you can walk safely with your walker and use the bathroom on your own, and your companion and recovery plan are ready. The surgery center has no overnight stay, so if your health might call for a night of monitoring, Dr. Morton plans your surgery at a hospital from the start; and if you need more time on the day, the team decides the safest next step with you. Nothing went wrong; a little more time was simply the safer choice. Read more about the same-day pathway.

Your companion matters more than they might think. They do not change dressings, give wound care or run physical therapy — they need to be there:

A surgery center is the right setting for many joint replacements, not all of them. Revision surgery with significant bone loss, joints complicated by prior infection, complex fracture reconstructions, and patients whose heart, lung or other medical conditions warrant hospital-level monitoring are better served with a full hospital — ICU, specialists and blood bank — behind the operation.

For Big Island patients, planned complex and revision cases may be scheduled at a full-service hospital on O‘ahu, such as The Queen's Medical Center, organized through the interisland program as one planned trip — testing, surgery and therapy scheduled before you fly. Consultations, pre-op and follow-up stay in Hilo or Kona either way. Venue follows the patient, not habit: your procedure, your health and your insurance decide where your surgery happens, and you will always know why yours is recommended where it is.