Announcement departure from Orchid Clinic and recommendations for patients on how to select a good primary care provider
- Douglas Lyon MD
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Douglas Lyon MD, For The Mountain Times
The following is to inform the Mt. Hood Community that I will no longer work for Orchid Health as a Family Physician in Welches. I am grateful for the chance to have been able to serve my community and to follow two beloved physicians, Dr. Grice and Dr. Epstein – both outspoken physicians with compassion, commitment, and vision go the extra mile for their patients and their community. Over my year of working in the community I had a chance to get to know many of you well beyond your health care needs -- I had a chance to get to know your families and your histories and your hopes for the future. I have also had the chance to help several patients and their families in the last months, weeks, and days of their lives. Working for and caring for this community has touched me deeply.
As many might have heard, my wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the end of last summer. I took family leave and in November we returned to Colombia near the border region with Venezuela. This has given our children a chance to be with my wife’s family and a time to restart our advocacy work with TodoSomos.org for Venezuelan migrants. We had a very nice article published on our work this week in Latin American Reports which sums up what we have accomplished and hope to do in this period of regional tension and transition. You can see what we are up to on our website TodoSomos.org.
I will miss you, my patients. I wish you the very best. When our paths cross in the community please say hi. I never forget a face and a story but sometimes names take a few minutes to resurface.
I have been asked by family and friends and patients over the years about what to ask when seeking a primary care provider and primary care clinic. No one clinic or provider will have everything. You need to ask the questions and reflect on your needs and then work to be known as a person and make the decision where you will seek care. It never hurts to share stories of your family and your life with your provider; it helps them to get to know and remember you when caring for large numbers of complex patients.
The 10 questions for your provider:
Do you live and have family in this community?
How long have you been with the organization ?
Who is your backup when you are not available and how does your clinic triage patients who request to be seen urgently?
What metrics do you use to determine if you are doing a good job ? Do you share these with the community?
Do you type and give each patient a printed plan at the end of their visit?
Do your providers practice whole person care -- i.e ‘problem based charting?’
How often are you on the phone with the specialists and the emergency room when caring for your patients?
Is your medical record system the same as the hospitals and other clinics in the area? Does it share information (ER visits, problem lists, medication lists) in real time from one clinic to another? Do my specialists and others have real time access to work done in your clinic?
Is there a system to help you know when referrals don’t go through and your patients can’t get appointments with the specialists where you send them?
Given my health history and complexity do you think I am a good fit for your staff and clinic?
At the end of the visit, it’s always good to ask, “What do you think is the most important thing we should be working on?”