Dr. Tony Giefer of Orcas Medical Center will be vacationing from Dec. 20 to Jan. 16. He has arranged for three local physicians to provide patient care at the Medical Center as “locum tenens” (a Latin term meaning “place-holder”) while he is gone.

Clinic hours and appointment scheduling will remain the same as usual, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The three physicians are Diane Boteler, MD; James Litch, MD; and Rachel Bishop, MD. All are board-certified in Family Medicine and will share the Medical Center clinic and on-call schedules. The three physicians are friends who all live on Orcas Island. All have specialist training in travel and tropical medicine with experience practicing in remote areas of the world.

Boteler is a long-time Orcas Island resident who practiced for a number of years at Orcas Medical Center. She received her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed residency training at the University of Washington. In recent years, she has worked as a locum tenens physician in Friday Harbor. She and her husband work together developing medical diagnostic software and enjoy travel to remote areas of the world.

Litch currently practices part-time in Friday Harbor. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and completed his residency training at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. He additionally completed fellowship training in public health with the Centers for Disease Control. His interest in health care developed from his early professional life as a rescue specialist, emergency medical technician, firefighter and mountain guide.

Bishop also practices in Friday Harbor. She trained at the University of Leeds Medical School in the United Kingdom, and then completed residency training in the UK and with Group Health in Seattle. She has a special interest in pediatrics and women’s health. Litch and Bishop are husband and wife; they have two sons.