Jamestown is a community in need of more physicians.
A promising young doctor wants to work in the city - a local native, to boot - but Jamestown will have to wait three years for her.
Kaitlin Ames just earned a degree as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine recently, but she already knows she wants to return to the area to practice medicine after her residency. During her four years in medical school, she worked at many hospitals in a wide range of cities, including Pittsburgh, Pa., Scranton, Pa., Meaville, Pa., Long Island, N.Y., Woodbridge, Conn. and Wheeling, W.Va. However, Jamestown was her favorite.
Article Photos
Kaitlin Ames, a local Falconer girl, just became a physician on Sunday. She visited some of the nurses, from left, Linda Sherwood, LPN, Cheryll Divincenzo, RN, and Jane Campbell, RN, who she worked in the WCA Hospital emergency department during the last eight weeks of her rotation.
P-J photo by Hilary Scott
"It's home," she said.
During her final year of medical school, Ames did her rotation in Jamestown, spending time at Jamestown Pediatrics, JAMA, Jamestown Primary Care and WCA Hospital.
"I had worked here a little bit third year, so I knew that the physicians were good teachers and were accepting of medical students. I knew I would get a good education here," she said.
She also able to be at home, which made her happy. Family is very important to Ames. She said that her father, Tom, mother Kathy, and three younger sisters, Karlin, Klaire and Kourtney, have supported her and are a huge part of who she is today.
Ames originally chose to pursue an education degree because she was tentative about the eight years of of schooling required to become a doctor. During the summer between her freshman and sophomore years, however, she decided that she at least needed to try or she would regret it. Her mother, who is a registered nurse, encouraged her to pursue medical school because of her "go-get-it attitude."
When she got accepted to The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, she said she didn't know that much about osteopathic medicine.
"It's provides a slightly different look at the person, more of a whole body, whole person approach, and also the manual medicine," she said. "I sort of fell into it, but I'm glad that I fell into it."
She said that as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, she'll be able to pursue all the same fields as a Doctor of Medicine. And she wants to do it all. She said she wants to treat everyone from infants to grandparents, as well as do women's health and deliver babies, so she has decided to become a family medicine doctor, as opposed to internal medicine doctor.
"I couldn't decide between pediatrics and geriatrics," she laughed.
She will begin her three-year residency in family medicine at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio on July 1. Her plan is to return to Jamestown after her residency with the hopes of working as a family physician in an office and treating her patients in WCA Hospital.