Every doctor at Family Healthcare Associates is a part of our family. That’s why we want to shine a spotlight on one of our amazing physicians so you can see the people behind the lab coats. This week we turn it over to Dr. Lisa Abbott, one of our primary care doctors in our Mansfield clinic, for a closer look.
Getting To Know Our Family of Doctors
When you hear our doctors say Family HealthCare Associates is like a family—we really mean it. Two doctors I work for today (Dr. George Anagnostis and Dr. Jim Anagnostis) used to be my family’s doctors when I was growing up. Now 23 years later, I’m doing the same thing with my patients. I have some families where I’m caring for 3 generations at once, and that’s really special because you get to know all of them. The “circle of life” continues at Family HealthCare Associates—and that familiarity is becoming a rare thing for doctors and patients.
Today, what has happened to a lot of other primary care groups (who were trying to stay independent) is they had to sell to bigger hospitals systems because they couldn’t afford the expenses. When that happens, you lose some of that personal touch when you are just part of a larger system. Patients feel it because they often can’t see the same doctor all the time. That’s why working for Family HealthCare Associates is so unique. We’ve been around 60 years and (thankfully) we haven’t had to do that. Our partnership with Catalyst Health Group last year helped us enhance our patient support network while remaining independent.
I feel very fortunate to be on Family HealthCare Associates Board of Directors where I help with recruiting new doctors into our family. I tell all of our new doctors, “If you want to help make a difference in peoples’ lives, it’s a really great to work here. Being a family doctor is a lot of hard work, but I wouldn’t do anything else.” Born and raised in the Metroplex, I went to college at Baylor and got my medical degree at UTMB Medical School in Galveston. After I graduated, I did my residency at John Peter Smith Hospital, then began working for Family Healthcare Associates in the South Arlington office, not far from my parents’ home. I had come full circle.
As for what I like best about my job? Practicing medicine is my calling, but I feel like the real value of being a family doctor is in the long-term relationships I form with my patients. They say when you get older, you won’t always remember the day-to-day stuff that goes on at work, but you will remember the people you worked with. That rings true to me. It all goes back to having personal relationships. It’s rewarding on a human level, but it also allows you to have honest conversations with patients about what’s best for their health. When you have something big happen, you really want to have a doctor you trust who will sit down with you and go over your options. Sometimes, I have patients who I haven’t seen in 3 or 4 years – but when they come back in, we start on the ground running because I know their medical history and have a relationship with them.
When people ask me, “What’s the value in what I do?” I’ll say that even though I’ve been a doctor for 20 plus years, it still makes me feel good to hear one of my patients say, “I don’t want to see anyone else.” It means I’m doing my job because they know and trust me. Specialists are great—we all need specialists– but when you are talking about every facet of your health, you really need a primary care doctor who can see the bigger picture. So, when you come to see one of our doctors at Family Healthcare Associates you know that we will always do what’s best for your health. Our whole group has the same mindset; we always have. We’re here for you, and we’re not about anything else. That makes me feel good about what I do for a living.