Anew medical provider is now seeing patients at Ellsworth County Medical Center.

Ryan Lahey, a certified physician’s assistant, started Aug. 12, after doing his student rotation at ECMC a couple of months earlier with physician’s assistant Shawn McGowan.

“I love it,” Lahey said. “Everybody’s super nice, welcoming and any questions that I have, there’s always somebody I can ask. They’re willing to sit down and explain how things go. It’s been wonderful.”

Lahey started seeing patients three weeks ago.

Lahey is from Wichita. He attended Kansas State University in Manhattan where he earned a BS degree in Athletic Training. Lahey then attended Wichita State University, where he earned his physician’s assistant and master’s degree. While in the program, he married his wife Jordan, who is a school teacher at Tescott Elementary School. The couple has no children, but they do have a Golden Retriever, Hattie, whom they treat as their child.

Lahey said he chose ECMC and Ellsworth because he likes the community.

“I knew I wanted to do rural (healthcare) because I wanted to make a bigger impact on the community,” he said. “My wife is from Salina and she also wanted to be close to her parents. It’s a perfect fit for us.”

Lahey said the thing that surprised him the most about ECMC and Ellsworth is that everybody knows everybody here based of off their name.

“I could have a patient and then if I need to go discuss it with Dr. Slomka or something, they instantly know who you’re talking about, who they’re related to, what medical problems they have — they literally know everything about everyone in town, which is super helpful. It’s a tight-knit community, and I’m excited to be involved with it.”

Lahey said he and Jordan are presently working on the move to Ellsworth.

“We just bought a house here in Ellsworth,” he said. “We closed on it two weeks ago. We’re updating it — painting, redoing floors and what not.”

While Lahey stays in Ellsworth occasionally when he is on call, Jordan has been staying in Salina while they are working on their home.

Lahey said there are a lot of challenges associated with ECMC being his first job as a physician’s assistant.

“Probably the biggest one is what resources we have, what’s available in the community and where can I find those resources,” he said. “So where is cardiology going to be if somebody needs a specialized test, where am I going to have to send them, what’s going to be the best way to get them down there, what’s that cost and time going to be for them. Those are all some things that kind of make things a little more difficult for us.”

Lahey said his greatest reward working at ECMC is seeing the changes in people’s lives.

“Just being able to treat somebody and then a week later somebody will stop me and be like ‘you helped so and so and you did such a good job,’” Lahey said as he wiped away a few genuinely heartfelt tears.

The quality of the medical staff is what Lahey said has impressed him the most about being at ECMC.

“Everybody’s just super easy to work with, super nice and they take the time to go out of their way to help you out with whatever you need,” he said. “You can tell how much they care for all the patients.”

Lahey hopes to serve ECMC and Ellsworth County patients until he eventually retires someday.

“That’s been the plan from day one,” he said. “One of the biggest attractions to me is that I heard some stories about people who weren’t from Ellsworth and moved here, and then they just stayed. They had a wonderful time in the community, loved the community and wanted to stay for 20 plus years. That was something I was really looking for.”

Lahey said his plan going forward is to spend more time with patients on the educational end of their healthcare — reviewing their health and treatment needs with them, making sure they understand their medication and understand what is going on with their body.

“Another thing we’ve been floating around is me seeing a lot of the COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) patients and making sure we are meeting all of our goals there,” he said.

Andrew Bair, the hospital’s chief executive officer, said he is very pleased to have Lahey onboard.

“He’s just starting his career and he is an obvious, excellent talent,” Bair said.“He’s very compassionate, he has a good work ethic and he is very competent. I’m excited to have him here.”

Bair said he is still looking for more healthcare providers for ECMC, but now with Lahey onboard, that need is not as urgent.

“We’d like him to be (longterm),” Bair said.“And that is his intent.”

"Everybody’s just super easy to work with, super nice and they take the time to go out of their way to help you out with whatever you need."
Ryan Lahey
Certified Physican’s Assistant