PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center has officially welcomed five new health care providers.
Dr. Josh Jones, a psychiatrist, and physician’s assistants Bernadette Gonsalves, Rebecca Sorg, Travis Babcock and Patricia Christiansen — all of whom joined OMC in 2010 — were welcomed during a hospital commissioners meeting in Linkletter Hall in the basement of the Port Angeles medical center.
Jones is a board-certified general and forensic psychiatrist at Peninsula Community Mental Health Center, which has a partnership with OMC.
Jones spent the past four years in private practice in Rochester, N.Y. He graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Puget Sound.
“I was born in White Salmon and raised in Kelso,” Jones said proudly. “So to me, Port Angeles is a big city.”
As an officer in the Army Reserve, Jones has worked as a psychiatrist in Iraq.
He spoke of “wonderful opportunities” and “frightening challenges” facing mental health care on the North Olympic Peninsula amid financial pinches at the state and federal level.
Since he started Dec. 1, Jones has streamlined the center’s inpatient psychiatric consultation service.
But for the most part, Jones said, he has pulled his foot off the accelerator “because you never want to fix what isn’t broken.”
“There’s a lot of things about the provision of mental health care in this community that’s not broken,” Jones said.
OMC helped recruit Jones to the Peninsula Community Mental Health Center.
“It obvious to us at this point that he will be a valuable contributor to this community,” said Peter Casey, director of the Peninsula Community Mental Health Center, which is at 118 E. Eighth St., Port Angeles.
Gonsalves and Sorg joined the Olympic Medical Primary Care Center, a satellite clinic at 433 E. Eighth St., Port Angeles.
Gonsalves, whose patients call her Bernie, was hired to handle chronic pain management.
“I’m glad to be a part of OMC,” she said.
Sorg is a physician’s assistant for two established OMC providers.
“I’ve been here since July, and I’m enjoying it very much,” Sorg said.
Christiansen and Babcock joined Olympic Medical Orthopaedic Clinic, 1004 E. Caroline St., Port Angeles.
Babcock is a recent graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He is an avid skier who said he wanted to live close to the mountains.
Christiansen grew up in the Bremerton area and was trained in Roanoke, Va.
“I moved right back here as fast as I could because this is home,” she said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
