{"id":43970,"date":"2013-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2013\/07\/18\/with-a-pas-help-a-small-town-keeps-its-clinic\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T14:36:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T19:36:54","slug":"with-a-pas-help-a-small-town-keeps-its-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2013\/07\/18\/with-a-pas-help-a-small-town-keeps-its-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"With a PA’s help, a small town keeps its clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physician assistant and 1997 UNMC alum David Blauvelt has worked for doctors, the way most PAs do. But then he decided to strike out on his own.<\/p>\n

\nHe decided Kearney, Neb., was the place to do it. It’s still a relatively small city, but a growing one. A regional hub, with a great medical community. He wanted to be a part of that. He co-founded First Care Medical, an independent, PA-owned clinic.<\/p>\n

\nBlauvelt and a partner hired a supervising physician, J.M. Finkner, M.D., another UNMC alum. Dr. Finkner was an emergency-medicine doc who wanted to try something new.<\/p>\n

\n“He’s glad to do what he does, and he’s very good at it,” Blauvelt said. “We’re glad to have him. And we work as a team.”<\/p>\n

\nThings were going well. But meanwhile, Ravenna, Neb., a rural town, population approximately 1,300, was losing its clinic. The hospital that owned it was getting out, and the city wanted to keep health care in town.<\/p>\n

\nThe community approached Blauvelt’s practice about taking over, and had a grant in hand from the hospital that was selling, to help make it work.<\/p>\n

\n“The situation was one that didn’t require a lot of risk to us,” Blauvelt said. “There was no risk to the city. It was a win-win.”<\/p>\n

\nFirst Care Medical signed on.<\/p>\n

\nBlauvelt asked Ryan Lieske, with whom he’d gone to PA school, to staff the clinic day-to-day. “I\u00a0 knew he’d be perfect,” Blauvelt said.<\/p>\n

\nThe staff, the nurses, the receptionist, stayed in the area and kept their jobs.<\/p>\n

\nThey celebrated by signing that first contract in a public ceremony.<\/p>\n

\nThis was in 2009.<\/p>\n

\n“The community has been very good to us,” Blauvelt said.<\/p>\n

\nHow has a PA-run clinic made it work, when the previous practitioners were getting out?<\/p>\n

\n“What they needed was some continuity and commitment,” Blauvelt said.<\/p>\n

\nAnd Ravenna, Neb., kept its clinic. This is what physician assistants can do.<\/p>\n

\n“This is rural medicine,” Blauvelt said. “I don’t know what percentage of the state lives in these counties, but, a small population, but a lot of need.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Blauvelt, PA-C, owns his own practice. 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