There are a lot of wonderful reasons to live in a small, rural community, but having access to great medical care whenever you need it is not usually one of them. Unless, that is, you choose to live in Welches, Ore., a quaint community located at the base of Mount Hood. In Welches, you are never too far from excellent care provided by Murlan Grise, who provides primary care and emergency medicine to patients at Adventist Health’s Hoodland medical office.
Grise has been caring for residents in this area for more than 30 years, developing long-term relationships with multiple generations of families. Grise has demonstrated such enthusiastic commitment to this rural area that employees specifically choose to work at this medical office. All of the staff enjoy the welcoming environment Grise cultivates. And patients know they have a physician who cares for — and about — them.
Grise was one of 17 physicians honored with a Physician of the Year Mission Award given at the 11th annual Adventist Health Clinical Summit on Sept. 11. The Mission Awards are given to Adventist Health doctors who are examples of living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope.
Also included in the group of honorees was John Bohlman, who provides internal medicine and emergency care at one of Adventist Health’s more rural hospitals in Tillamook, Ore., near the rugged Oregon coast. Bohlman practiced internal medicine for 28 years in Lincoln City, Ore., where he also became board certified in emergency medicine. He has been with Tillamook Medical Group since 2011.
“I appreciate that Adventist Health is patient-focused,” he says. Asked about highlights in his career, Bohlman recalls a patient he had treated for several years who was in an abusive relationship. Because they had built a trusting doctor-patient relationship, he was able to encourage her to pursue a safe, healthy lifestyle. “She eventually made changes she’d been putting off for years,” he recalls. “She came to see me and said, ‘Thank you. You helped me believe in myself,’ and she gave me a big hug.”
The Physician of the Year Mission Awards are just one aspect of Adventist Health’s annual Clinical Summit, which brings physician leaders together from all around the health care system. The two days are focused on transforming patient care for the future.
At the Adventist Health Clinical Summit, (from left) David Russell, Adventist Health Portland president and CEO; Murlan Grise, a physician at the Hoodland clinic; David Butler, Adventist Health Tillamook president and CEO; John Bohlman, a physician with Adventist Health Tillamook; and Joyce Newmyer, Adventist Health Pacific Northwest Region president and CEO, during this year's Physician of the Year Mission Awards ceremony.
