Much of his life has been spent in the warmth of the southern United States but the snow and cold didn’t scare William Arban, M.D. away when he learned that the Family Practice of Newport was looking for another physician.
Dr. Arban began seeing patients at the practice in January. He joins Drs. James Holcomb, Rachel DiSanto, and John Lippmann as well as nurse practitioner Linda Chasse and physician assistant Jennifer Stanton. The practice is in the new primary care building located on Medical Village Drive on the campus of North Country Hospital.
“I am enjoying the job and Northeast Kingdom environment very much,” Dr. Arban said. “People you meet here are cordial and helpful. The hospital has a dynamic medical and support staff. Everyone seems competent and well-oriented to the delivery of quality patient care. I look forward to working with the clinical and administrative teams I had the pleasure of meeting when I came here.”
Dr. Arban comes to North Country with a wealth of clinical experience in a variety of settings, including at one time operating his own medical clinic in North Carolina. In addition he has also served as a clinical assistant professor at the Family and Community Medicine Departments at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and Emory University in Atlanta.
The staff at Family Practice is pleased to have the doctor as a member of their team.
"We are looking forward to expanding access to the community for primary care services,” Roz Leone, RN said. “Dr. Arban will allow us to provide for those in the community without current service who are in need of evaluation for preventive care and untreated problems." Roz is the practice manger at the Family Practice of Newport.
A native of Alabama, after high school Dr. Arban went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of South Carolina. That was followed by his doctorate’s degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed his internship and residency in family medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In recent years fewer medical students are pursuing careers in family practice. Dr. Arban, on the other hand, said he was attracted to family medicine because of both the diversity of patients and the intimacy that there can be with the family of each patient. Not only do family practice doctors treat the whole patient, but many of them treat patients ranging from newborns to the elderly.
Dr. Arban has a simple, but important, philosophy when it comes to treating his patients. “Every patient needs their physician to hear them carefully,” he said. “A physician then uses the patient's self-disclosure along with medical fact-finding and decision-making to construct a customized process of care. The physician should communicate clearly and completely to the patient what happens along the way in an ongoing dialogue. Most patients then know what to expect from their physician and his health care team and how they may improve their own health.”