UNMC alums keep rural clinic from closing

UNMC alum Ryan Lieske operates the Ravenna Medical Clinic, next-door to Jane Wachter, DDS, also a UNMC alum, who took over her father's dental practice.

“If you look on Highway 2, if Ravenna was not here, there would not be health care between Grand Island and Broken Bow,” said UNMC alum David Blauvelt, a physician assistant.

In 2009, Good Sam was closing its Ravenna clinic, and as far as health care goes, the town of about 1,300, and its surrounding communities, would have had to find somewhere else to go.

The city reached out to Blauvelt, who owns a clinic in Kearney, and in partnership, they kept the clinic open, and kept health care in town. They also kept a local business open, kept local jobs from disappearing, and kept residents with health conditions from having to drive miles and miles down long country roads.

In 2017, with Blauvelt ready to “downsize,” his fellow UNMC PA-school alum Ryan Lieske took over, making the clinic truly locally owned. Lieske, who was already the clinic’s everyday physician assistant, has served on the Ravenna Chamber of Commerce and the Ravenna Economic Development Corporation.

Once again, a UNMC alum stepped forward to help keep a rural Nebraska community healthy, in more ways than one.