Dooley joins medical staff at AICS clinic

Wrangell not only has a new medical clinic, but a brand new physician added to the staff of the Alaska Island Community Services location on Wood Street.

Dr. Laura Dooley, who has been affiliated with Bartlett Regional Medical Center and Southeast Regional Health Consortium, began work this week and will be seeing patients at the new facility.

Dooley, who just arrived in town with her husband, said she has been here in the past during her travels throughout the state.

“It’s good to be here in Wrangell, but you know, I have only been here for about 24 hours,” Dooley said on Monday morning. “But we’re glad to be here.”

Most recently, Dooley worked in Whittier, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. She said she found out about the opening at AICS through a professional recruiter. Dooley also worked as a Juneau-based provider to SEARHC in 2009 before her tenure in Southern California.

Asked about the difference between practicing medicine in an urban environment, versus the small-town feel of Wrangell, Dooley said she will be able to expand her patient interaction here.

“The scope of practice here is hard to find in higher population areas,” Dooley said. “For example, if you use Southern California as a basis for comparison, you have a much more narrow scope of how you practice medicine as opposed to a whole dynamic change like here in Wrangell. It’s a function of how the health care system is set up and number of providers per square area.”

Clinic manager Carly Allen said the addition of Dooley to the AICS staff roster would cut down on the number of visiting doctors to the Borough.

“Having Dr. Dooley here will help us reduce the amount of locums coming and going, and will provide a lot of continuity which is good for our patients,” Allen said.

Dooley is a graduate of Villanova University with an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts. She attained her medical degree at The University of Texas and has practiced in both Alaska and Southern California.