BY GAYLE FEE
PHOTOS COURTESY MANCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER
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A
s a Manchester native, Dr. Janel
Kittredge knows it has not always
been easy to get access to a doctor
here, especially when residents or visitors
need one the most.
“Manchester has grown a lot over the past few
years, but an urgent or emergency medical
situation requires traveling up to an hour
north or south to an emergency room,” she
said. “And even if you are established with
a doctor in the area, it’s difficult to get an
immediate appointment if you need one.”
So Kittredge and her husband, Dr. Thomas
Sterling, decided to do something about it,
and this spring their Manchester Medical
Center will open its doors at 34 Bonnet Street,
providing walk-in care for emergency and
non-emergency medical needs.
“When we moved back here 10 years ago, we
saw the difficulty people had getting to see
doctors when they needed to,” Kittredge said.
“We were always fielding calls from family and
friends who had illnesses or injuries and we
took care of them as best we could. But the
more we saw, the more we realized how much
the community needed a walk-in medical
facility,” she continued. “So we thought, ‘We’re
local, we’re raising four kids here, this is our
14 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine.com
community, and we have the capabilities and
skills to do this.’ So that’s what we decided
to do.”
Sterling said the couple’s main motivation for
the new facility was “to be able to give back to
the community the way it has given back
to us.”
“At some point in everyone’s life, they will
need to see a doctor,” he said, “and when you
need it, medical care is super important.”
Town Manager John O’Keefe said the new
clinic has the potential to serve some 15,000
to 20,000 residents in the area from Arlington
to Danby as well as thousands of visitors.
“This fills a need we have been talking about
at town hall since I got here 12 years ago,”
he said. “People are really excited about it.
Everybody has a story about suffering some
kind of injury and sitting in the emergency
room for an endless period of time.”
Reducing the number of trips to hospital
emergency rooms will take off some pressure
for local rescue squads as well, according to
Manchester EMT Liz Oakes.
“Often patients will call an ambulance to be
transported to a higher-level facility where
they don’t necessarily have to be, but that’s