Northside Cherokee Renames Operating Room To Honor Surgeon

CANTON, GA -- Northside Hospital Cherokee has renamed one of its operating rooms after a beloved surgeon who retired in 2016.

Dr. Alan R. Swayze was an active orthopaedic surgeon at Northside Hospital Cherokee for 12 years until he was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare neurodegenerative disease with no known cure.

The condition forced Dr. Swayze to retire last year, the hospital said.

“Alan Swayze cared about his patients,” said Dr. Carl Capelouto of Georgia Urology and past chief of staff at Northside Hospital Cherokee. “This essential quality, combined with great surgical skill, a kind and gentle nature, and finally his deep humility, endeared him to his colleagues and staff at Northside Hospital Cherokee.”

Dr. Swayze performed most of his surgeries in the hospital’s operating room No. 4. On Jan. 9, representatives from Northside Hospital Cherokee’s Administration and Surgical Services placed a plaque outside the OR in his honor. The plaque will move to the new Northside Hospital Cherokee when it opens in May.

Dr. Swayze thanked the doctors and staff at Northside Hospital Cherokee for the outstanding care of his patients during the past decade.

"I owe a special thanks to my patients and to the members of our community for their support of my practice at Pinnacle Orthopaedics,” he said. “And even more so for the outpouring of love they have shown to me and my family with the onset of my retirement."

Dr. Swayze is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. He attended the University of Mississippi for college, medical school and residency. He was in solo practice in McComb, Mississippi, prior to moving to Canton in 2003, where he joined his brother, Dr. Scott Swayze at Pinnacle Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Specialists.

Dr. Swayze and his wife, Rhonda, have been married for 25 years and are proud parents of four sons.

Photo 1: Front row, left to right: Bethany Lill, Pinnacle Orthopaedics; Amy West, Pinnacle Orthopaedics; Rhonda Swayze; Dr. Alan Swayze; Dr. Carl Capelouto, Georgia Urology; Dr. Scott Swayze, Pinnacle Orthopaedics; and Lori Turner, Northside Hospital Cherokee Surgery Services. Back row, left to right: Dr. Michael Kuczmanski, Pinnacle Orthopaedics; Dr. Robert Tyrrel, Northside Radiology Associates and chief of staff, Northside Hospital Cherokee; Billy Hayes, CEO, Northside Hospital Cherokee.

Photo 2: From left to right are Dr. Carl Capelouto, Dr. Alan Swayze and Dr. Scott Swayze

Photo credits: Northside Hospital Cherokee