On August 25th Banner Health opened a new community clinic here in Susanville, staffed by two general surgeons who will live in town and serve area residents. This is the first clinic in California operated by Banner Health, a nationally recognized nonprofit health care system with 25 hospitals including Banner Lassen Medical Center.
“This move will help ensure continuing high-quality physician care in Lassen County,” explained Banner Lassen CEO Cathy Harshbarger. “Susanville has been served by one general surgeon who travels from out of town. Now, we can enhance that care by adding two surgeons who live in the community.”
The new clinic is located at 1345A Paul Bunyan Road.
In addition to the two surgeons, the clinic employs a practice manager and one medical assistant, a licensed vocational nurse and front office staff for a total of six employees.
“Not only are we working to provide quality patient care, we also are proud to create quality jobs in the community,” Harshbarger added.
The clinic offers full integration with Banner Lassen Medical Center with care coordination and a networked electronic medical record. The clinic is operated by Banner Health and licensed as a 1204A community clinic by the California Department of Public Health. This means the clinic provides care for all patients including offering a sliding fee scale for patients based on their ability to pay.
Harshbarger introduced the clinic’s two new doctors:
“William Park, MD, arrived in Susanville on July 21st and began training at the hospital. Prior to joining Banner Health Clinic, Dr. Park worked at North Hawaii Community Hospital in Kamuela, HI. There he served as the program director for minimally invasive surgery. He specialized in advanced laparoscopic surgery, foregut and endocrine surgeries and completed a full range of general surgeries, endoscopy and trauma surgeries.”
Harshbarger said that Park has also worked in surgery at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown, NY, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Care Foundation in Los Angeles.
Dr. Park received his medical degree from Columbia University in New York. He completed an internship and residency at UCLA School of Health Sciences and a surgical residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, both in Los Angeles. He also served as chief of residency in general surgery at Cedars-Sinai. He is board-certified and is a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.
In his spare time, Dr. Park enjoys writing, running and exploring as well as using multimedia devices for education and entertainment.
Nathan Woolsey, MD, joined the clinic August 25th. He comes to the community from Fresno where he has completed a year as chief resident of general surgery, a year of residency in general surgery and his internship in general surgery. He earned his medical degree from the Michigan State College of Human Medicine. Dr. Woolsey also has traveled as a medical volunteer to El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. He is board-certified.
“In working with our community health partners, we identified a need to increase access to care,” Harshbarger said. “The next step is ensuring that we provide other key physician services in the community.”
To learn more about Banner Health, please visit www.bannerhealth.com. Banner Health Clinic in Susanville is not a part of Banner Medical Group.
