The following was submitted by the Orcas Family Health Center.
Orcas Family Health Center is pleased to announce the addition of physician assistant, Jennifer Utter, PA-C, to their clinical staff. She will be joining David C. Shinstrom, M.D. and Karen Caley Orr, PA-C seeing patients at OFHC.
Utter was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Medex Northwest at the University of Washington in 1994 with a BS in Clinical Health Services. She doesn’t recall her first stay on Orcas because she was only 2 weeks old but she has many fond memories of time spent here on the island after that at her family’s Eagle Lake property on Point Lawrence. She helped us with provider coverage this summer and fell in love with our patients and staff. We liked her too so we asked her to stay. Jennifer is in the process of moving to Orcas Island from Snohomish this month and she will be seeing patients on Thursdays and Fridays as well as weekend call and providing coverage as needs arise. She was an EMT and Ski Patroller prior to her PA training and she has 15+ years of experience in Urgent Care as a Certified Physician Assistant. Health and well-being are very important to Jennifer and she is very excited to be living on Orcas Island. She currently balances her medical practice, playing the cello, enjoying friends and family (including her 7 pound miniature dachshund, Polly), working out at the gym, reveling in the spirit of Orcas and getting to know her new community here on the island.
Dr. Shinstrom feels it is time for this addition. He notes “our patient volume and visits have continued to grow at 5-10% per year for several years. Clearly we are the largest and busiest medical practice on Orcas. We have a policy of never turning a patient away for any reason. We have always been able to offer same day appointments. As the practice has grown, the addition of Jennifer will allow us to continue to ensure patients are always able to be seen”. Orcas Family Health Center is a federally designated rural health clinic. Visit www.orcasfamilyhealthcenter.org.
