A snipping of fashionably large scissors marked the opening of Valparaiso’s Methodist Hospital CareFirst at their Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. The event took place on Tuesday, June 28, and was attended by many members of both Methodist Hospitals’ leadership and Valparaiso’s business community. Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy was also on hand to welcome Methodist Hospitals to Porter County.
CareFirst delivers three types of care: primary, immediate/urgent, and specialty. With staff including a primary care physician, a nurse practitioner and three specialists, their mission is to provide quality healthcare through both walk-in and scheduled appointments. The Valparaiso CareFirst clinic tackles overall family health, in addition to specialized needs such as orthopedics, podiatry, and cardiology.
Methodist Hospitals CEO Matt Doyle believes that the new location will help raise the community’s level of overall health. “One way to do that is to extend our services beyond just the four walls of the hospitals,” he said. “Sometimes the best course for the hospital is to keep people out of the hospital and to bring the needed services into the community. So we're very proud to do that with our CareFirst location.”
To help get the word out about CareFirst, Methodist will offer screening sessions at the new office.
“There are a number of screenings we're going to offer to help patients determine if they're at risk for certain chronic conditions,” said Kim Innes, Assistant Vice President of Business Development. “Really, we're very focused on preventive health services.”
The clinic’s primary care physician, Jonathan Ramos, MD, focuses on preventative health and family medicine. Having had Valparaiso as his childhood home, Ramos looks forward to giving back to the community which supported him when he was young.
“I grew up here, and it's nice to come back and help the people who took care of us growing up,” Ramos said. “I’m excited to be out here, working in my community offering such a great, hybrid-type practice.”
Along with Ramos, Alfred Bonjean, MD, an Orthopedic Surgeon, Bruce Brincko, DPM, a Podiatrist, and Thach Nguyen, MD, a Cardiologist, also see patients at the Valparaiso CareFirst. David Howe, Director of Practice Operations and Development, proudly presents these specialists to Valparaiso and surrounding communities.
“I want people to know we’re out here,” he said. “We’re anxious to see patients and serve Valparaiso and Porter County residents.”
The office is the fourth location Methodist has opened, joining three successful locations in Lake County.
“We're looking forward to being in Valparaiso,” Howe said. “We're very excited to offer primary care, immediate care, orthopedics, and podiatry. We'll be rotating a number of really good specialty care physicians out here.”
To learn more about Methodist Hospitals CareFirst, visit their website here.
