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Kate Grace, PA-C |
| Kate grew up all over the west. After
completing her training in nursing, she practiced as an RN
in Bend until 1996 when she decided to become a Physician
Assistant. Upon completion of her training at University of
North Dakota, she practiced at the Pine Eagle Clinic in
Halfway. She began working with Dr. Hofmann in 2001 and
joined the practice in Baker City in 2007. I started my career in medicine as a nurses aide in 1978. From there I worked getting my LPN license from Central Oregon Community College in Bend. I worked as an LPN at both St. Charles in Bend and Redmond Community Hospital while getting my RN. I worked eight years, mostly in Labor and Delivery, NICU and postpartum as a floor nurse and Assistant unit manager. During this time I also did house float and step down Cardiac to keep my skills in other areas up. Life is about changes. I went to Yakima, WA as their Clinical Manager for a new 14 bed LDRP in 1993. From there to the Midwest where I was Clinical Manager for a nursing home and Alzheimer's Unit; then as Director of Nurses at Custer Community Hospital. I also volunteered for their Ambulance Service. Being an EMT during Sturgis was something else! While I loved being with patients, more and more of my time was being spent at a desk or on the road to various meetings. I wanted to go back to patient care, but nursing wasn't it. Being a PA was the perfect solution. I graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1997. I spent a few months in Bend, but an urban practice is not what I was trained for. I'd done rural and community medicine at UND with my didactics in South Dakota and Oregon. I accepted the job at the Pine Eagle Clinic in May of 1997 and practiced there until September of 2007. I provided ACLS support to the Halfway/Oxbow Ambulance service and still do when I'm in town and it's needed. In September 2007 it was my great pleasure to come to work here as Valley Medical Center with Dr. Chuck Hofmann, MD and Bryan Braun, PA-C. Dr. Hofmann was one of my supervising physician's out in Halfway and he understood the dynamics of being the sole provider in a frontier clinic and working with a board of community members. For the past two years, I have also done weekend coverage in the ER at Walter Knox Memorial Hospital in Emmett, Idaho. While both these jobs put me on the road a lot, life is good! I love living in Halfway and providing medical care to folks of the Panhandle. It is a blessing to live and work in what I call God's country. |
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