By Marcy Stamper
The Country Clinic in Winthrop, which physician and owner Ann Diamond said is “bursting at the seams,” is adding two new providers.
Nurse practitioner Phoebe Hershenow started on Thursday (April‑16) and already had a full schedule last week, said Diamond.
Hershenow, with a specialty in family medicine, has spent her career in rural settings. For the past six years, she worked in a private-practice clinic on Orcas Island. Hershenow came to the Methow Valley to fill in for three months at Methow Valley Family Practice in Twisp while one of their nurse practitioners was on maternity leave.
She was impressed by both local clinics and said she was delighted to find a permanent position at the Country Clinic.
“I really like being a nurse practitioner — you’re in the room with one person, and that’s what it’s all about. You’re totally in that person’s world, to figure out what the problem could be and how we can help,” she said.
Before Orcas, Hershenow spent 18 years practicing in rural Idaho. She has also worked in Central and South America and speaks Spanish.
As a family-medicine provider, Hershenow sees people of all ages and especially likes the involvement with families and multiple generations.
She has a special interest in chronic illness, end-of-life care and hospice care. She also focuses on women’s health. “I’m very much a generalist,” she said.
Family-medicine physician Mike Tuggy is joining the Country Clinic on May 20, replacing Chris Hogness, who left last month to work full time as a hospitalist at Central Washington Hospital.
Tuggy comes to the Country Clinic from Swedish Hospital in Seattle, where he directed the family-medicine residence program and saw individual patients. His additional areas of interest are sports medicine and obstetrics.
Tuggy had his training in the military as a family-medicine physician. He served in Europe for three years and in the first Gulf War. He has also practiced in Africa. He has had a home in the Methow Valley for the past six years.
Tuggy also continues to be involved on the national level to reform primary care. One facet of that is to increase the number of physicians who specialize in family medicine, who are trained to care for patients from infants to the elderly, for women and men, and to deliver babies.
“We’re developing a strategic plan to reform primary care in the U.S.,” which could also encompass a new economic model that focuses more on prevention and on keeping people healthy, said Tuggy.
“We’re looking at innovative ways of making primary care more accessible,” he said.
“We’re probably the last independently owned clinic in five or six counties, maybe even all of eastern Washington,” said Diamond. She said they are exploring various models to continue to meet the full spectrum of people’s needs using a team-based approach.
The clinic has five providers. In addition to Diamond, Tuggy and Hershenow, there is pediatrician Leesa Linck and physician’s assistant Danielle Micheletti. There are also six registered nurses.
