craigdailypress.com

As the opening of a new Craig clinic grows closer, so does the anticipation of the clinic's primary treatment provider, a family care doctor with 23 years of experience.

The Memorial Hospital hired Dr. Andy Hughes at the end of January, and he is scheduled to begin working Monday at TMH Medical Clinic, a 2,500-square-foot clinical space with six exam rooms on the first floor of the MRI building, 651 Yampa Ave.

The clinic, currently being prepared for Monday's opening, now is taking appointments.

"We are excited, very excited," Hughes said. "It will be nice to see patients again instead of working on the computer."

Hughes, 58, originally from East Liverpool, Ohio, said the allure of family practice medicine lies in the assortment of patients seen day to day.

"I like seeing newborn babies, seeing kids, adults and folks older than I who tell their stories," he said. "If I were looking at just ears and noses all day long, it would bother me.

"I like that variety. I probably would not do well focusing on just one thing."

If it's a wide range of patients he wants, it's a wide range he could get at the new clinic. Craig, as hospital officials have noted, is short on family doctors.

Hughes, whose background includes 18 years at Columbine Family Practice Center in Loveland and 2.5 years at Wellington Medical Center in Wellington, said he's used to managing a large number of patient charts.

The Medical Clinic will have three providers to start - Hughes and two physician assistants - and TMH is "aggressively" recruiting another doctor for the clinic, he added.

"There shouldn't be any problem with three providers seeing all those patients," Hughes said.

Neilene Folks, a physician assistant with 11 years of experience, joins Hughes at the clinic.

She, like Hughes, sees potential for the new clinic to have a lot of lasting "long-term benefits" to patients and the local health care system.

In his search for a new job, Hughes said Craig and Moffat County fit all the right criteria.

"We wanted a small community, and Craig was actually one of the larger (areas) we looked at," he said.

"For a town this size : it's got a lot going for it. We were very impressed with how friendly everyone was. It stood out from all the other places."

If Hughes was impressed with the area, TMH was equally impressed with him.

"When we started recruiting a family physician, we were looking for three things - great qualifications, great training and experience, and someone with a genuine desire to not only practice medicine in Craig, but to be a part of the community," said George Rohrich, TMH chief executive officer, in a written statement. "We lucked into Dr. Hughes, who fit the bill in every way.

"This is a doctor who has spent past Christmas parades with his wife, Debbie, as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. This is the kind of physician who will not only work in Moffat County, but who will genuinely take interest in becoming part of our community. : We were so excited to find a doctor who shares our vision of quality health care and service excellence."

The clinic accepts all forms of insurance and can be reached at 826-2400.

Joshua Roberts can be reached at 875-1791, or jroberts@craigdailypress.com.