Sound Medical

10/31/2025

Happy Halloween from your Sound Medical family! Have a spook-tacular weekend and stay healthy!

10/29/2025

Food insecurity is a key social determinant of health. If you or someone you know needs food assistance, please take advantage of these community resources.

A resource to share, that all find food and nutrition

10/08/2025

If you are covered by an ACA plan, be prepared and look into your options for coverage in the event that Congress does not extend these credits for American workers and their families.

ACA Premiums Tax Credits

10/01/2025

ATTENTION SMFP PATIENTS!!
Due to the current government shutdown, Medicare coverage for telehealth visits has ended effective midnight September 30th. Medicare beneficiaries can only be scheduled for IN-OFFICE appointments unless they opt to pay the Sound Medical self-pay rate of $90 out-of-pocket for a telehealth encounter.
With any luck, Congress will get its act together, prioritize healthcare access for ALL Americans, and allow us to resume our usual practice of medicine including telehealth encounters.
Please consider calling your congressman (Dr. Greg Murphy) and senators (Thom Tillis and Ted Budd), all of whom voted along party lines for this shutdown to take place.

09/25/2025

Just to be clear: Acetaminophen (Tylenol) use in pregnancy does NOT cause or contribute to autism. Please look to the medical experts - not politicians - for health advice.

A study of ~2.5 million children found “Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was NOT associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analysis. This suggests that associations observed as in other models may have been attributable to familial confounding.”
Study Link: https://lnkd.in/gPZ6Gagi

09/19/2025

Immunizations are good medicine, evidence based, and save lives. Talk to your SoundMed provider about which immunizations are appropriate for you.

08/27/2025

08/18/2025

There's been a lot of spurious info in the news lately regarding vaccines, much of it from anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr. Be sure to get your info from reputable and knowledgeable sources - like Johns Hopkins University.

07/24/2025

Drop your spoons and forks!! You are what you eat, and if you eat too much you will be ... too much!

One explanation for the rise in obesity in industrialized countries is that people burn fewer calories than people in countries where obesity is rare. A major study finds that's not the case.

07/18/2025

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have congratulated me on my 30 years in practice. It has been my pleasure and distinct honor to have been able to provide care for so many for so long.The relationships and friendships I carry with me always, and they are precious to me.

There are far too many people who deserve my thanks for helping me achieve this milestone, first of whom is my wife Sandy. There are plenty of jokes about being a doctor’s wife, but I will vouch for the fact that it’s no joke!  Sandy has stood next to me and supported me throughout my career, and I could not ask for a finer or more capable partner in life.

Second on that list is my certified medical assistant of 29 (!) years, Crystal Willis, who has helped me on a daily basis to provide the best care possible to all of our patients.

It has been my privilege to work with outstanding clinicians throughout my career, including the nurses and medical staff of Carteret Health Care and my associates in Sound Medical - Dr. Karen Skarda, Dr. Frieda Menzer, Dr. Claudia Daly, and now Dr. Emily Lanier. All have made me a better physician through collaboration, and have helped make Sound Medical a trusted and respected name in Carteret County health care. Meg Dolan, PAC, Andrew Stern, PAC, and Jennifer Brown FNP have been essential to the success of our practice, and I am so very appreciative of their dedicated and compassionate care of our patients.

I also want to thank the Sound Medical front office and clinical staff who quite literally enable me to do my job every day. Your contributions are often overlooked, but they are not unappreciated. 

Finally, managing a medical practice can be a thankless and all consuming job, so I will take this opportunity to thank Sandy Rickabaugh, Kristie Ensley, Christy Lewis, and Rosemary Porter for routinely having performed the impossible on a daily basis over the last 16 years. Anyone who has not managed a medical practice has no idea what it takes to make the magic happen!

For those of you who are wondering, I am NOT retiring anytime soon! I look forward to the rest of my practicing years at Sound Medical, and to continuing to specialize in YOU, our patients, who are the reason we are here in the first place.

07/03/2025

Hey Carteret County, lets give a big shout out to Dr. Rickabaugh for 30! Years of caring for our community!!