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doc • Summer 2014
Kentucky
Contents | Summer 2014
Rural
Medicine
What Makes Rural Health Care Different?
A Brief Summary
by Fiona Young-Brown
READONLINE: www.kentuckydocmagazine.com
05
Attracting Staff to Rural Medicine
by Fiona Young-Brown
06
Rural Hospitals Serve as Community Resource
by Tanya J. Tyler, Staff Writer
08
Affordable Care Act
by Jonathan Piercy, MD
10
Kentucky patients with chronic eye conditions
benefit from new law
11
The Hope Center’s Promise:
We Help. We Heal. We Give Hope.
by Martha Evans Sparks, Staff Writer
12
MAKING HISTORY
Samuel David Gross:
From Farmer’s Son to Prominent American
Surgeon
by Frank Kourt, Staff Writer
14
Have You Checked Your Prescribing Report
from KASPER?
by Christopher J. Shaughnessy
16
PHYSICIAN HEALTH AND WELL BEING
Enjoying patients for over 30 years
by John A. Patterson MD, MSPH, FAAFP
PROFILE IN COMPASSION
Standing in another person’s shoes
by John A. Patterson MD, MSPH, FAAFP
Physicians at Saint Joseph Hospital use new
technology to treat SCA
by Holly Weyler
Fiona Young-Brown
Editor, Kentucky
Doc Magazine
It seems perfectly serendipitous
that, as this issue of Kentucky Doc
was in preparation, news stories told
of Ashley Loan, a University of Kentucky College of
Medicine graduate who plans to practice emergency
care medicine in a rural part of the state. Loan was a
graduate of the university’s Rural Physician Leadership
Program. She grew up in a farming community in
Greenup County, where her mother, who held an
associate’s degree in nursing, was the only health care
provider for ten miles.
In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 40 percent of
counties are without a hospital. The state’s rural population is grossly underserved. Loan understands, first
hand, the importance of serving that population.
Most of the time, Kentucky Doc talks about research
and specialists within the Fayette County area, but in
this issue, we look at some of the issues affecting the
surrounding counties. Articles address topics specific
to the health care of rural populations, the role of the
rural hospital as a community resource, and how rural
practices can attract staff. Our guest editorial, from Dr.
Jonathan Piercy, discusses how the Affordable Care
Act has helped him to improve his medical practice in
Hazard, by increasing access of vital services.
I chatted recently with a Lexington doctor who
spends one day a week working in Eastern Kentucky,
helping patients who are unable to make the trip to the
city. As you read this, whether you are a nurse, a family
physician, or a specialist in your field, I urge you consider how you might be able to broaden your horizon