One thing that jumped out at Meredith Woolley, M.D., is the spirit of teamwork at St. Rose Health Center.
Dr. Woolley is filling in temporarily at St. Rose until the new full-time physician, Jill Doerfler, M.D., starts her medical practice at St. Rose Family Medicine in March.
“The staff members at St. Rose have been amazingly kind and helpful,” Dr. Woolley said. “I must adjust to an entirely new system, including electronic medical records, and they have been patient and supportive.
“There is certainly a teamwork atmosphere here,” she added.
Dr. Woolley works for Docs Who Care (DWC), which is based in Olathe. DWC has been a partner with rural health-care facilities for more than 20 years.
“Docs Who Care is a great organization,” Dr. Woolley said. “I love the concept of being able to come in and help out in providing care for the community. It sometimes gives local providers a break or, as in St. Rose’s case, we are covering between providers.
“In some smaller communities,” she added, “facilities wouldn’t be able to keep their doors open if we didn’t supply interim care. Patients are always so appreciative, even though we understand they would prefer to have their own doctor.”
Dr. Woolley is seeing 10 to 20 patients a day in the family practice clinic. She came to St. Rose in January, and is alternating duties with another DWC physician.
St. Rose Administrator Leanne Irsik noted DWC is a good fit for St. Rose.
“They are allowing us to have a Kansas-licensed family practitioner for a limited time to bridge the gap between providers,” Irsik said. “DWC provides good access to quality care for our patients, while supporting our mid-level providers.”
St. Rose continues to recruit for additional primary-care doctors in family medicine and internal medicine.
“Dr. Doerfler will arrive in March and we hope to expand the team with a few more additions during the next year,” Irsik commented.
Gary Morsch, M.D., DWC founder and president, said his organization is pleased to be serving St. Rose patients during this time of transition.
“We are privileged to serve the wonderful community of Great Bend,” Dr. Morsch said. “We take pride in partnering with only the highest level of quality health-care providers. Our team is enjoying becoming acquainted with the people of central Kansas. We think they will enjoy meeting our team too.”
St. Rose specializes in primary care, and prevention and wellness. Services include St. Rose Family Medicine & Urgent Care, Great Bend Internists, imaging, infusion clinic, WellnessWorks, one-day surgical procedures, Golden Belt Home Health & Hospice and a comprehensive Specialty Clinic. St. Rose is co-owned by Hays Medical Center and Centura Health.