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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2017)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, AUGUST 25, 2017 KeizerCommunity KEIZERTIMES.COM Hanging up the stethoscope Longtime Keizer MD retiring By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes It’s been the summer of the long goodbye for Dr. Jay Jamie- son of Willamette Valley Physi- cians on River Road North. After 34 years as a family care physician in the area – 30 of them in Keizer – Jamieson is retiring. The goodbyes have taken on a now-familiar form: Jamieson talks with the patient about the problem of the day and is about to leave when the patient asks if he “has a minute.” Then a new space is opened up. “They will recall some poi- gnant moment in their health and thank me for helping them through it,” Jamieson said. In those moments, Jamie- son is awed by his profession and the ways in which things he learned years ago, or just last year, make a difference in people’s lives. “You have six billion chemi- cal reactions going on in your body right now and I have skills that allow me to ask you ques- tions regarding what’s going on and then examination skills that can lead me to the possibilities of A, B, C or D. And, if that’s the case, we do X, Y or Z to fi gure it out,” Jamieson said. Several people loomed large over Jamieson’s decision to be- come a doctor. His own child- hood primary care physician and Dr. Grant Thorsett at Wil- lamette University were two of them, but Jamieson’s mother, a registered nurse, had some of the biggest impact. “She would come home with stories of amazing things that happened,” Jamieson said. Jamieson was born in New Jersey and moved to the west coast after his father was trans- ferred, as a civilian contractor, to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif. He received his pre-med degree from Wil- lamette University and then studied medicine at North- western University in Chicago. Jamieson said serving in many capacities for only a month at a time during a three- year residency prepared him for the day-to-day work of being a family physician. “Every month during your residency, you’re working in a new fi eld, with new patients and new systems. You are sort of taught resiliency,” he said. While he tried to keep an open mind, he stuck with general practice over a specialization because it gave him the opportunity to do a bit of everything. Jamieson returned to the mid-Willamette Valley in 1983 and began working for North- west Human Services offi ce in west Salem. After working off his student loans, he performed medical missionary work for more than a year and then made his return to the Salem area. At the time, there were only two doctors in Keizer. Dr. Ver- non Casterline and Dr. Greg Thomas, and Casterline was planning his retirement. Jamie- son took over Casterline’s side of the practice in 1987 and Thomas and Jamieson pur- chased and bought the property where WVP now sits in 1996. Both Keizer and the medical fi eld have changed a lot since Jamieson fi rst came to town. On the civic side of things, Jamieson said one of the big- gest treats was the arrival of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. For a while, Jamieson was tapped as the Volcano’s team physician, but the responsibilities along- side raising fi ve kids and being a partner in the clinic eventu- ally prompted him to step aside. In the grand scheme, medi- cal practice has changed more drastically. Cornhole tourney Sept. 9 Shangri-La and Salem Ale Works present the second an- nual Capitol City Cornhole Classic on Sept. 9 at the State Capitol State Park, 155 Wa- verly Street NE. The event starts at 10 a.m. and goes to 5 p.m. Capitol City Cornhole Classic is a fundraiser for Shangri-La. Proceeds will help people with disabilities and families with disadvan- tages realize and achieve their full potential. Pre-registration is required by Sept. 5 at 10 p.m. Entry fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. Admission is $45 per team for two player teams. One player rule break- er division for children ages six to 12 and people with dis- abilities who need accommo- dation is $10. For more information, go to ShangrilaOregon.org or contact Ashley at communi- ty@shangrilaor.org. KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Dr. Jay Jamieson, a Keizer doctor for more than 30 years, is retiring Aug. 31. When Jamieson started out, his responsibilities entailed regular visits to the hospital ei- ther to admit patients or simply make the rounds on patients already there. Those duties are now performed by interning physicians who send Jamieson updates. It might seem like a small thing, but the change helped Jamieson get more sleep and focus on patients at the clinic. There is also signifi cant- ly more outpatient treatment available for most problems. “If you had a blood clot when I started, you’d be in a hospital for seven days and I would have to go to the hos- pital and check in on you ev- ery day. Now they start you on shots you give yourself and a pill and it works fi ne,” Jamieson said. In 2011, with major changes coming as a result of the Af- fordable Care Act (ACA), Ja- mieson and Thomas sold the clinic to WVP Medical Clinics. Jamieson sees both good and frustrating things in what the ACA accomplished, but if 34 years in medicine taught him anything, it’s fl exibility. Still after all that time, and with retirement a mere week away, Jamieson can still fi nd himself reeling at the thought of all his career has entailed. “I was doing a sports physi- cal the other day and I looked over at the boy’s mom and said, ‘You know, you would have been about the same age when I fi rst started seeing you,’” he said. Jamieson has treated as many as fi ve generations of the same family, and has numerous fami- lies in which he’s treated three generations. Given that en- trenchment in people’s lives, he’s tried to assuage the fears that come with change. “I won’t be here, but people will still come before paper and our patients’ time will be treat- ed as valuably as our own,” he said. More than that though, it’s left him with a different sense of awe – at the lessons in humil- ity his patients have taught him. Jamieson and Thomas never put up billboards or paid for a lot of advertising even when compe- tition came to town. They re- lied mostly on word-of-mouth. It was only recently, during the summer of the long goodbye, that Jamieson is able to com- prehend the scope of his impact on the lives of his patients, in those moments after the sched- uled appointments are over. “It’s been humbling to real- ize that they trusted me and the other staff with their healthcare needs and we take that very se- riously,” he said. “Hearing peo- ple thanking me has been very humbling and I did not real- ize the impact I had. I always fi gured I’m just one of many family doctors, but some of my patients kept coming back for 30 years.” We are Everything Except Overpriced Simple Cremation $795 orthodontics for children, adolescents & adults Inexpensive Burial and Funeral Options Pre-Planning Available On-Site Crematory COMING TO SCHOOLHOUSE SQUARE FALL 2017 4365 RIVER RD N, KEIZER 503.393.7037 Se habla español 5099 River Rd N, Keizer “ The staff are so friendly and helpful! 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