Sequim gets its own neurologist
Published on Wed, Oct 10, 2012Read More News
Dr. Stafford Conway is now practicing at Olympic Medical Physicians Specialty Clinic in Sequim. Conway is the first of two neurologists that Swedish Medical Center will bring to the peninsula under the terms of the recent Olympic Medical Center-Swedish “tertiary affiliate” agreement. Sequim Gazette photo by Mark Couhig
In recent months Olympic Medical Center has hired a number of health care professionals to expand the services available in Clallam County.
They include:
• Dr. Carol Brokschmidt is the new medical director of Olympic Medical Physician’s (OMP) Women’s Clinic where she works with three midwives providing obstetrics and gynecological care. She received her training at the University of Chicago.
• Cheri Shields received her Master of Nursing from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., in 2010. After finishing her training, she moved to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands where she practiced as a midwife. She joined the team at the Women’s Clinic in July.
• Dr. Joel Finman is the new medical director of the Sequim Walk-In Clinic. He is board certified in Family Practice. Since 2006, Finman has worked in emergency departments and urgent care centers, most recently at Weed Army Community Hospital in Fort Irwin, Calif.
• Linda Starck has a Master of Nursing degree from the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. She has worked in urgent care since 2009 and owned RediMedi Clinic in East Wenatchee. She moved to Sequim in June 2011 and practiced at the Sequim Primary Care Clinic.
Starck was the first health care provider at OMP’s new walk-in clinic.
• Dean Short is a Physician Assistant-Certified. Short practiced in Georgia until 2006, then moved to Port Angeles where he joined Strait Orthopedics. In February, Short joined the Olympic Medical Physicians Department of Orthopedics.
by MARK ST.J. COUHIG
Sequim Gazette
Olympic Medical Center has been working hard for years to bring a neurologist to the peninsula, describing it as one of its “urgent” physician needs.
Now, with a big assist from Swedish Medical Center, it has done just that.
Stafford Conway is hard at work at the Olympic Medical Physicians Specialty Clinic in Sequim, 840 N. Fifth Ave., Suite 1500.
Conway notes that he’s a neurologist, not a surgeon. As such he treats diseases of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord and nerves.
Common nervous system diseases include Parkinson’s disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He said the demand for those services is growing as 10,000 Americans a day turn 65.
Among younger people, he said, he often treats epilepsy.
He also handles nerve disorders, including sciatica.
Conway said he also expects to see more cases of multiple sclerosis in Sequim than in the past. He explained that the frequency of MS increases “as you move further from the equator.”
Conway said current studies suggest MS may be linked somehow to vitamin D.
Moving north
Taking in sufficient vitamin D hasn’t been a problem for Conway, at least not to date. He grew up in Arkansas, went to college in Mobile, Ala., then attended medical school on Saint Martin, in the French West Indies. Before moving to Sequim a month ago, Conway was in private practice just north of Dallas.
He’s impressed with Olympic Medical Center, saying the diagnostic equipment, including the MRI and CT scanners are “state of the art.”
He’s also enthusiastic about the new sleep lab soon to be built by OMC.
While Conway works at OMC, he’s also an employee of Swedish Medical Center. “I have two bosses,” he said.
He has credentials for both OMC and Swedish, and is a member of the Swedish Neuroscience Institute.
Conway said he’s hoping to get back into fishing and hunting now that he’s back in rural America.
So far he loves what he sees. The peninsula is “a whole different scale of beautiful,” he said.
This past summer in Texas the mercury rose above 110 degrees 10 days in row, he said. Enough was enough.
Conway and his wife, Wendy, have three little boys, all enrolled in Sequim schools.
Business hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Phone 360-683-3311, or toll free at 800-829-5810. FAX 360-683-6670.
For a complete company directory with contact information please click HERE.
