Doctors office in Ouray

February 20, 2009

Written By: Samantha Tisdel Wright

Posted By: Erin Eddy

www.ourayland.com
www.ridgwayland.com

After doing without for several years, Ouray is poised to get its own medical center once again. Ouray Family Medicine will open its doors at 824 Main Street in mid-March.

"We've been scratching our heads thinking about it for years," said Dr. David Olson, a family practice physician who with his wife and nurse practitioner Shirley Olson, will be running the clinic. "The time just seemed right."

Once the decision to open a practice had been made, it took the Olsons a little longer to find the right place. Buying their own building was not an option, so when the current location, which used to house the hair salon Shea Studio, became available, "...We were like, 'Yeah, baby... it's perfect,' David laughed.

The location wasn't dialed in until December. Since then, there's been some serious remodeling going on, to transform the once chic salon into a medical clinic with a reception desk and waiting area, three exam rooms, a trauma/x-ray room, office space and more.

An open area up front will double as a waiting room for patients and their families, and an after-hours theater and lecture area, where guest lecturers will be invited to give talks from time to time, the Olsons said.

Shirley, who has been an RN for 15 years, has spent the past few years completing her master's degree to become a family nurse practitioner, training which she anticipates completing in May. She has recently been working at a women's health clinic in Montrose.

"I like primary care more than accute care, because you're working toward enhancing a person's overall health," she said.

David, who received his medical education at Northwestern University in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, and completed his family practice residency at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, has been practicing family medicine since 1980 at the age of 25.

He formerly had small private family practices in Denver and Michigan. This past year, he's worked at a family practice in Montrose.

It's work that he's well-suited to. "Family physicians are in short supply," he noted. "They have the hardest job, they make the least money, they have to know the most."

The Olsons, who moved to Ouray in 2004, intend to flesh out their offerings by bringing in specialists on a rotating basis.

Shirley herself is currently obtaining certification training as a foot care specialist. "And we recently obtained our aesthetic medicine credentials and will likely offer Botox injections and chemical peels initially, and perhaps other aesthetic procedures later," Olson said.

In addition to his time in family practice, David spent a considerable period of time in high-level medical management. "I wanted to have a bigger effect; I wasn't happy with the way medicine was administered," he explained. "I was ready for something new." Now, he has come full circle, back to family medicine.

"We are committed to living in Ouray for the rest of our lives," he said. "And you can't be a medical director in Ouray." But there's certainly a need here for a medical clinic, a need which he and Shirley are now poised to fill. Together, they envision creating a family practice in Ouray that can care for all of the town's citizens, from birth on up.

The Olsons also look forward to creating an ultra-modern "micro" practice, incorporating the latest developments in medical practices that have been made possible by the Internet.

"We will have an interactive web page where patients can log in or fill in their demographics, and make or change an appointment," David explained. Patients, once they are logged in, can also securely e-mail David and Shirley questions and information about their medical backgrounds. All records will be kept electronically.

"The 'micro' model is very hands-on, and can dramatically decrease administrative fees," Shirley explained. "You might often have one of us answering the phone." And yes, the Olsons will do house calls.

"A micro-practice is the perfect model for us," Shirley added. "Our style is to spend more time with each patient. That's the way medicine should be practiced."