Recruitment continues in addressing doctor woes
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 31, 2017 5:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
One of Wayne UNC Health Care's newest doctors is general surgeon Dr. David Remington whose office is at Wayne Surgical Associates. Remington was inspired to become a doctor by anatomy and physiology class and his passion for helping people.
The local physician shortage is showing signs of lessening as efforts to recruit and retain doctors to Wayne County come to fruition.
Officials at Wayne Memorial Hospital recently told the News-Argus they are addressing the access to care issue, particularly in the areas of family practice and some specialty areas.
Dr. David Remington recently joined the practice of Wayne Surgical Associates and Wayne UNC Health Care and is taking new patients.
The Pennsylvania native is a general surgeon whose interest in science and penchant for helping others led him to enter the profession.
"I wanted to work with people, and the idea of being able to relieve suffering is just an important part of my life goals," he said. "It seemed to be a good fit.
"I loved the prospect of being able to figure out complex problems with people's diseases. It just grew from that."
After high school, he spent two years in mission work for his church, the Latter-Day Saints, creating training programs and managing 180 missionaries. He was paired up with another missionary in Salt Lake City, he said.
"We would work in the congregation there in whatever way we could to build the faith," he said. "We worked with the community and local congregation -- maybe they needed yard work or help with moving."
That experience was not only a time of spiritual growth, but also further instilled the importance of serving and loving people, he said.
The medical profession was not even on his radar when he started out at Brigham Young University, but he had always liked working with his hands and had grown up emulating his dad, "a fixer-upper," he said.
"I have always enjoyed the physicality of fixing things, building things," he said, admitting he initially had thought he would become a primary care physician.
As time went on and he spent a little time in the operating room and "got a taste of surgery," he discovered it simultaneously challenged and excited him the most.
"I like it, the more immediate result. Someone comes in with a pretty serious problem, you're able to take them to surgery and fix that," he said. "It's sort of a complete package.
"You're able to cure cancer, you can cure appendicitis and I really liked that feeling. I just felt like I was being more productive. It was more satisfying seeing patients post-operative, just that hands on (element)."
His role at Wayne Surgical Associates with Dr. Leon Stockton and Dr. Gilbert Garcia will be primarily minimally invasive abdominal surgeries, such as hernias, colon cancer and gall bladder.
"I'm trying to be a true general surgeon," Remington said. "I'm not real specialized or pigeon-holed in any one area.
"We take all-comers. There's a few things I don't do, but I'm absolutely seeing new patients."
Since receiving his doctor of medicine from Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica in 2012 -- where he was student association president for Hope of Dominica and raised $5,000 to provide chemotherapy and provided education in palliative care to local communities -- he was a general surgery resident and then chief resident at St. Elizabeth's Youngstown Hospital.
In making the decision to relocate to North Carolina, and specifically Wayne County, several criteria attracted him to the job, starting with the fact that Wayne Memorial is a non-profit and its mission is to help people.
"No. 1, I liked the hospital. I liked the people, the staff, everyone I met. I liked my partners. I knew they would be good people to start my practice with, good mentors," he said. "I knew there was a lot of need in this broad scope of surgeries."
While bigger cities offer more subspecialties, his preference is to be in an area that needs him and where he can work more "broad and general." An added bonus is that he has family in Raleigh, he said.
And wife, Dani, who is due with the couple's first child "any day now," shared a similar background with Remington.
"We both grew up in small towns. This is actually bigger than the towns we grew up in," he said. "It has a nice measure of Southern charm.
"We're enjoying it."
Beyond getting acclimated and the imminent role as new parents, Remington said he is looking forward to getting involved in the community.
"Outside of work, just get involved with good causes, whether it's helping youth who need mentors or just community service, just doing whatever we can to make our community better and serving," he said.