PMH now offers cardiology clinic

Marlinton, W.Va. –

Pocahontas County residents can now see a cardiologist without leaving the county.

Pocahontas Memorial Hospital public relations coordinator Susan Wilkins describes the new program.

“The hospital is really working to get other specialists into the hospital to provide special clinics for the residents of Pocahontas County,” she said. “Our newest clinic, that we’re going to be offering, is a cardiology clinic with Dr. Gary Roberts, who is from the Greenbrier Valley medical facility down there. He will be taking referrals from doctors in the county to do cardiology appointments with anyone in the county who needs one. He does nuclear stress testing, TEE and TTE studies and diagnostic cardiac cath studies.”

Wilkins recommends a referral from primary care physicians.

“It is best to go through your primary doctor,” she said. “If they want you to see Dr. Roberts, they can contact Dr. Roberts’ office directly and make you an appointment. Dr. Roberts will be here one day a month and, right now, it looks like it will be the second Wednesday of each month. So, our first cardiology clinic will be this Wednesday. He will be here all day. Appointments take probably about half an hour.”

The new service will save patients the time and expense of traveling out-of-county.

“The great thing is that you can see a certified cardiology doctor, right here in Pocahontas County, without having to travel down to Lewisburg,” Wilkins said.

It’s not too late to make an appointment for this week.

“If someone would like to see the doctor this Wednesday, I would really encourage them to try to get their own physician to set them up an appointment,” Wilkins said. “I think his schedule, right now, is pretty wide open. This is brand new. The next one, if all goes according to plan, should be November 14.”

The cardiology service is part of a larger initiative to bring specialists to PMH.

“We actually have a podiatry clinic, where you don’t even have to go through your own physician,” Wilkins said. “You can just make your own appointment to come to our podiatry clinic. We also have what we call a nephrology clinic and that’s once a month. Nephrology is internal medicine – it mostly concerns the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases.”

Wilkins says the response has been positive from patients and doctors.

“Well, they keep coming back, so, we’ve had a pretty good response for it,” she said. “We’re getting people in to see them and our specialists want to keep coming back.”

The hospital continues planning expansion of medical services.

“The hospital is really committed to promoting healthy lifestyles and good health care for the residents of Pocahontas County,” she said. “So, definitely keep an eye out – I’m sure there’s new things coming that everyone will be wanting to take a part in.”

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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