01/01/2026
It's January 1, 2026, and we are now officially a completely independent medical clinic. We have logged in to our EMR and were relieved to see that the patient data has transferred as it was supposed to, which is a phenomenal relief. We have a total of just under 6800 charts in the new tablespace, which includes all patients who have ever seen us, including those no longer active and those who have passed. That means in the past 6 years we have had the opportunity to care for nearly 7000 people.
As the year and this time with IPW has ended, we are looking backward and are thankful for all those who have helped us along the way. Our most sincere thanks to Dr. Mohammed Khan who helped us join IPW and has been such a willing and patient helper along the way. You have been such a blessing, Dr. Khan. Thank you to all the partners at IPW who have helped us navigate this more independent model of practicing medicine over the past 6 years. Thank you to Eric Eickhorst who also answered all of our many questions about the EMR and general practice set-up at the beginning and is still answering questions we have now! We are thankful as well to Dr. Kirsten O'Quinn who joined IPW at about the same time as us and is also leaving IPW now to do a new independent group. It has been a blessing to have someone else in the same position as us - both as we started and as we ended - comparing notes and sharing resources and texting each other with the woes and celebrations along the way.
Thank you to Elizabeth for all of the help with insurance and billing and for fighting for us! We seriously do not know how we would do this without you and are thankful that we get to have you with us on this!!! Thank you to Annette for managing the clinic operations and troubleshooting the new EMR mock-ups along with a bunch of other things, all while being so reassuring with the "It will all work out" reminders when we most needed it. Thank you to Stacey, Terri, Caylin and Kellie for caring for us and our patients and being so willing to help us figure this all out! You have each worn many hats in this process and we appreciate you! Thank you as well to Katie, "our" phlebotomist, whose expertise in drawing blood is matched by her willingness to encourage as well.
We thank our kids, Elise and James, both for their help at the clinic and for their willingness to help all the stuff of life as Mom and Dad have been spending long hours on nights and weekends over the past 8 months trying to figure this all out. We do hope that the busy-ness will quiet down a bit as we have so much of this in our rear-view mirror. We love you, Elise and James, and are so thankful we get to be your parents!!
I (Nikki) am thankful beyond words for my husband Timothy Allen who has put countless hours into setting all of this up and been a constant encourager through it all. You are my best friend and the singular most amazing human being I have ever met. I am so thankful that we are doing life together in all the various ways!
Being a doctor is a tremendous privilege but also terrifying. People's lives matter, and we desperately want to do our best to care for people well, but we are also humans who will miss things and disappoint people along the way. The science of medicine is no where near as certain as we wish it was, and we are increasingly aware of how much there is yet to learn. Being a doctor certainly keeps you humble, as we realize how much is beyond our control, and we know that we will undoubtedly fall short in many ways in the future as well, but we are committed to doing our best to care for each person who chooses to see us as their doctor.
1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
Hitherto has the Lord helped us, and may He help us going forward!
