Years ago, Richard Fox, MD, discovered the central Oregon Coast during a bed and breakfast tour with his wife, Susan.
"We fell in love with the area, and kept coming back on vacations, and eventually bought a piece of investment property," he recalls. "And it became where we wanted to call home."
So after 23 years practicing in Phoenix, Ariz, the Fox family made the move to Oregon where he's become a leader in rural health care.
With help from Susan, Dr. Fox has been an integral force in opening eight Samaritan physician clinics with services in orthopedics, ENT, women's health, surgery, internal medicine and family medicine in the last 13 years.
"We now have 18 providers and over 60 employees," he reports on clinic growth. "It's been a sheer pleasure to see the clinic entities enlarge and work together in order to provide care to a large number of patients who otherwise would have to leave the area for medical care."
Today, Dr. Fox splits his time evenly between seeing patients at the Depoe Bay Clinic and administrative duties as clinical director for Samaritan Pacific Health Services, where he oversees the opening of new clinics and current operations.
And while he's proud of his accomplishments to expand access to health care, there's no question of where his professional passion remains.
"My very favorite thing—my first love—is still seeing patients."