Knox Winamac Community Health Center Adds New Team Members
Writer / Lois Tomaszewski
Photographer / Jubilee Edgell
Knox Winamac Community Health Center’s mission to provide comprehensive care to its community has been strengthened by the addition of some new team members.
Dr. John Bulger, and Nurse Practitioners Roger Farris and Lesley Metts, have been
hired to better serve the community, adding their combined years of experience and compassion to the team. Licensed Clinical Social Worker Lori Truesdell has also returned to the health center, according to Chief Financial Officer Eileen Blanke.
Bulger has 34 years of experience in family medicine. He obtained his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1984.
“I wanted to be a doctor since I was a child,” Bulger says. “There wasn’t any other family member in the medical profession. I was influenced by my childhood doctor.”
Family medicine means that Bulger’s patients will range from children to adults. This includes checkups, sick care and minor office surgeries. He is also trained in basic orthopedics, dermatology and gynecology.
In addition to his experience, Bulger says he also brings a “wide breadth of knowledge and deep desire to assist this community.”
Farris has 11 years of experience as a registered nurse and two years of experience as a nurse practitioner. He has worked in a variety of settings in health care including bedside nursing, emergency-department care, home health care, and primary care.
“I have always had a desire and passion to help other people in need,” Farris says. “This desire and passion drew me into the health care field and ultimately into the nursing profession.”
Farris says he enjoys the work atmosphere at the Health Center. He finds his colleagues approachable and personable.
“I like the positive energy that Knox Winamac Community Health Center has in providing patient care for the community,” he says.
Metts is a nurse practitioner with 16 years of experience in nursing, and the majority of that time was spent in intensive care. She has been a nurse practitioner for one year. The first six months was in an emergency-room setting. She was hired about five months ago.
“I truly enjoy family practice,” Metts says.
Metts began working in the medical field at 17 years of age.
“I started out as a nursing assistant and just continued my path as a nurse practitioner,” she says. “I have always had a passion to care for others. I also enjoy the challenge that medicine gives me to learn more and strive to give the best care to my patients. I just love doing what I do. I could never see myself doing anything different.”
Truesdell is happy to return to the Health Center. She worked there for five years, providing counseling and behavioral health management.
Her role is to assist patients in crisis situations or with day-to-day stress, helping them manage their mental health needs alongside colleagues who are attending to their medical needs.
With 30 years of practice experience, Truesdell is trained in the management of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss issues, smoking cessation and weight loss. She was trained specifically to work in integrated care, which means that she works together with the other providers in the office to provide the best overall care to patients.
The mission of Knox Winamac Community Health Center as stated on the official website is “to provide quality, primary health care services, accessible to persons in our community including the medically underinsured and uninsured.” It was founded by community leaders in 2006 and designated in 2010 as a federally qualified health center.
Knox Winamac Community Health Center provides primary and preventative care, offers wellness, Department of Transportation and sports physicals, provides laboratory services and children’s vaccination programs, and addresses behavioral health concerns.
The clinic is located at 1002 South Edgewood Drive in Knox. To make an appointment, call 574-772-6030. For more information, visit kwchc.net or email kwchc@kwchc.net.
