New doctor plans holistic approach

Office hosted open house Thursday

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Robert Green, the doctor opening a small clinic in Guthrie next week, wants to run a classic small-town primary care practice.

Rather than only treat symptoms, he wants to work with patients on diets and exercise routines — and even emotional and spiritual problems.

“Because they’re all connected,” Green said Monday, stepping briefly away from an open house at the clinic, called Guthrie MD. “I want to know their kids, their problems. I want to know everything.”

He wants to think of his clients as friends more than patients.

Green grew up in Cedar Hill, Tenn., only about 12 miles south of the new clinic. He moved back there after finishing medical school in Kansas City, Mo., and working as a resident with Trover Health System in Madisonville. He worked for Jennie Stuart Medical Center until 2007, then served in emergency rooms throughout western Kentucky for several years, wherever hospitals called him in.

Green, Guthrie’s mayor, and administrators of Jennie Stuart Medical Center and Fairview Physicians Network cut a ceremonial ribbon and showed off the new clinic Thursday afternoon. The clinic will treat its first patient on Monday.

It is now enrolling new patients, Green said.

“People were waiting for us to give them the green light to say, ‘Hey, come up,’” Green said.

Eric Lee, Jennie Stuart’s president and CEO, told a crowd of roughly 100 people Thursday that he expects no shortage of demand for Green’s services. Most people realize the Pennyroyal region has a serious shortage of medical providers, Lee said.

Further, the Affordable Care Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Thursday morning, will lead to scores of thousands of local residents getting insurance. This will no doubt exacerbate the demand for doctors and nurses.

Guthrie MD will also treat people for urgent care, Green said. It will bring on more doctors in the future if necessary.

Fairview Physicians Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jennie Stuart, will run the clinic.

Mike Stokes, laboratory director at Jennie Stuart’s main campus, said Bluegrass MD will offer X-rays, diagnostic imaging and other services within several months. The hospital’s central lab will test most of the images and other materials collected at the Guthrie facility, he said.

For information on the clinic, call 270-483-2525 or visit www.guthriemd.com.