WCHC Family Medicine Clinic marks 30 years

Washington County Hospital and Clinics' Family Medicine Clinic opened its doors 30 years ago and is still going strong today.

The clinic was the brainchild of Dr. Matt Sojka, who wanted to branch out and expand the services of Washington County Hospital.

Sojka's first recruit to help launch the clinic was Dr. Matt Prihoda, who is still with the clinic today.

Together, they opened the hospital's second private physician clinic, Family Practice of Washington.

The clinic was lacking furniture, supplies and exam tables when it opened in August 1990, but that did not stop Sojka and Prihoda from welcoming their first patients.

Family Practice of Washington consisted of four 'pods” that had three exam rooms, an office, two procedure rooms, a nurse's station and a small lab.

The staff in 1990 included nurses Mary Vittetoe, Karen Mast and Shelly Hahn, as well as a reception staff and clinic manager to help with human resources, benefits and billing.

Seeing patients of all ages at the new clinic kept Sojka and Prihoda busy.

In addition to their duties at the clinic, the two doctors completed rounds at the hospital inpatient unit, covered their own patients in the emergency department, assisted in surgery, delivered babies and spent hours in the intensive care unit.

Sojka and Prihoda spent their mornings before clinic hours performing sigmoidoscopies and treadmill tests, and once the clinic opened, had a full day of patients.

The doctors would play basketball over their noon hour at the old YMCA to keep themselves from being overcome by their workload.

In 1996, a temporary mobile trailer was brought in to assist with closures of certain clinic space.

The Family Practice of Washington was independently run until 2009, when the practice was sold to Mercy Hospital, which built the clinic's current building in 2011.

In 2014, Family Practice of Washington became the Family Medicine Clinic, as it is known today, and employed five physicians and one nurse practitioner. Today, the clinic has expanded to employ around 40 staff.

Prihoda still cares for patients of all ages and has been joined by six other physicians and three nurse practitioners.