Barton has a new doctor in town and he plans to plant his roots deep into the Northeast Kingdom soil.
Dr. Robert Hawkins joined the Barton Clinic on Elm Street in Barton in May. He joins nurse practitioner Rachel Pelletier in serving the healthcare needs of the people of the greater Barton area. Dr. Hawkins brings with him a wealth of experience in primary care medicine.
“I was fortunate to find the Barton Clinic in my pursuit for country living, Dr. Hawkins said. “I am excited about practicing medicine here. “
Some of our North Country Hospital medical staff felt an invisible pull early on towards a career in medicine. Other students who had a passion for the sciences in high school, felt medicine was a natural progression for them. And yet others followed a parent or parents into healthcare. None of these was the case for Dr. Hawkins.
“I had no interest in being a doctor,” he said. For that matter, he said he wasn’t particularly good in the sciences in high school. “I had no idea what I wanted to do.”
He did graduate from St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies.
Having skied competitively in college, he then moved west where he pursued his passion for skiing. During the winters he worked on the mountain slopes operating a ski racing clinic for adults and youths interested in competitive ski racing. During the summer months he worked in the hot western sun laying pavement.
“I worked on the roads 16 hours a day, six days a week,” Dr. Hawkins said. “I’d look at people who were only ten years older than myself at the time ( in their 30s), but who had worked in the business far longer than I had, and I saw what it was doing to their bodies, and after three years short year, I could feel what it was doing to mine.”
Although he has a deep appreciation for people who labor with their hands, Dr. Hawkins said he knew it was time to reconsider the direction his life was taking him. Because he was a ski racer, he was no stranger to physical therapists who are often called upon to work with injured skiers.
He enrolled at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, intending to pursue a career in physical therapy however with a new found interest in the sciences and his own brief period of illness he came to realize that medicine was to be his calling.
After graduating form the University of Georgia with a bachelors of Science degree in biochemistry, Dr Hawkins then followed with a degree in osteopathy from the NSU College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He then completed an internship in Family Medicine at Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, followed by his residency training in Family Medicine at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. Dr Hawkins also received further training in Neuromuscular Medicine/Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine.
When he started looking for a new community to practice medicine, Dr. Hawkins said he wasn’t looking for just any community or any practice. Having worked in a larger clinic setting where “cross coverage” was more the norm, he wanted to work in a small practice where he could truly get to know his patients, which in turn would allow him to better meet their medical needs.
“I love this setting,” he said. “I like it because it is small. Not only does it allow me to see my patients on a regular basis, but it helps me in getting to know them. This small setting allows me to truly help meet the medical needs of the patients.”
A requirement he said he and his wife, Heidi, now a registered nurse at North Country Hospital, had for any community they planned to live and work in, is they wanted one where they could immerse themselves in community life as well as country living. They are confident Barton has everything they have been looking for.
As for being a doctor, Dr. Hawkins has a simple philosophy.
“I view the physician patient relationship as a partnership between two people who are working for a common goal - better health for the patient, and indirectly, but subsequently, better health for the community,” he said. “Many people do not realize how much control they truly have over their health and health related problems. If I can help them with their immediate health needs, but also provide them education and tools towards preventive measures, then I feel I have truly done my job as a physician and not just a ‘doctor’. It runs along the lines of the saying that goes something like: “Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a person to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”