For Sammie Wikel, a 29-year-old first-grade teacher at Osage Elementary School in Pryor, life was good.
She lived on the family farm with her husband Derek and his 6-year-old daughter, surrounded by four generations. As they raised horses, cows, goats and even a couple of tortoises on the farm, Wikel also wanted to raise a child of her own.
Even though her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, they kept trying and were happy to be pregnant again.
When Marla Kerr, RN, was named the clinical program director for Advanced Wound Center at Hillcrest Hospital Pryor in December 2021, she brought a familiar background to the position.
“I had spent the past 20 years in the dialysis industry,” Kerr said. “And I fell in love serving people with chronic illnesses. We see a lot of people with chronic illness here in the wound care center as well. They kind of go hand in hand.”
We’re proud to share the Hillcrest Hospital Pryor 2021 Community Benefit Report. Along with hospital statistics, this report reflects Hillcrest Pryor’s impact on the community through unfunded care, discounts to uninsured patients and support to local vendors. It’s an honor to provide unsurpassed care and support to our community every day. Click here for full report.
(March 30 is National Doctors’ Day. Hillcrest Hospital Pryor would like to thank our physicians for the dedication and passion they show for their patients. In honor of National Doctors’ Day, we would like to spotlight emergency medicine specialist, Kim Gage, M.D.)
Kim Gage, M.D., has seen patients in virtually every imaginable condition since she began working in the emergency room in 1999. Gage could tell stories for days about what she’s witnessed.
Julie Hancox worked with physical therapy professionals after suffering a hamstring injury while competing on her high school pom squad.
Now Hancox is in the position to help those athletes recover from similar ailments.
“I love sports and being around the athletic population,” said Hancox, who was recently named the director for Hillcrest Pryor’s physical therapy clinic. “That’s always been a passion to help my teammates prevent injuries.”
We’re proud to share the Hillcrest Hospital Pryor 2020 Community Benefit Report. Along with hospital statistics, this report reflects Hillcrest Pryor’s impact on the community through unfunded care, discounts to uninsured patients and support to local vendors. It’s an honor to provide unsurpassed care and support to our community every day. See report here.
(March 30 is National Doctors’ Day. Hillcrest Hospital Pryor would like to thank all of our physicians for the dedication and passion they show for their patients. In honor of National Doctors’ Day, we would like to spotlight wound care specialist James Beebe, M.D.)
As the son of a construction worker and a stay-at-home mother, Dr. James Beebe grew up wanting to make a difference in the lives of others.
(March 30 is National Doctors’ Day. Hillcrest Hospital Pryor would like to thank all of our physicians for their dedication shown over the past year. In honor of National Doctors’ Day, we would like to spotlight Derek Knotts, M.D., emergency medicine doctor.)
Just a couple of months after joining Hillcrest Hospital Pryor as the emergency medicine director, Dr. Derek Knotts was thrust into an unprecedented with the first pandemic in his lifetime on the horizon.
