Delta, CO (July 28, 2021) – Delta Health is excited to welcome Joe Jones, Physician Assistant, to the West Elk Hotchkiss Clinic. Jones brings over 17 years of experience and will be providing walk-in care needs to patients in the West Elk communities.
“We are thrilled to have Joe Jones as a new member of the Delta Health West Elk Hotchkiss team,” said Vickie Schauster, Executive Director of Clinic Operations. “He brings years of expertise and will do an excellent job providing quality, compassionate care to our patients.”
Jones’s medical start began in 2004 when he joined the United States Army/National Guard and became a Green Beret Medic. After several deployments to Afghanistan and serving eight years in the military, Jones decided to continue his career in medicine.
“I enjoyed medicine so I transitioned into Physician Assistant School at the University of Colorado,” said Jones. “They have a specialty rural track where you receive additional training to have a medical career in rural Colorado. [Working in rural medicine was] a vision I always had for myself as a practitioner and for my family.”
For three years Jones worked at Clinica Family Health in Denver working primarily with Hispanic and Spanish-speaking patients where he learned medical Spanish. He was then part of a mobile urgent care company called Dispatch Health where urgent and hospitalist care was brought to people in their homes.
“When this opportunity came up [at Delta Health] I immediately applied, and I’m happy to be here as a resource to provide medical resources to folks when they need it quickly,” said Jones. “My background is in emergency medicine with the army, and I’ve always enjoyed ER medicine. I am trained as a general practitioner and have done family practice, but I enjoy higher acuity medicine.”
Jones’s care philosophy focuses on partnering with patients on their journey to health.
“I believe in learning from patients,” Jones said. “I have [information] to offer, but I believe finding health for anyone is a partnership between me and that person I’m working with. I believe that we have a lot of things to teach each other.”
Originally from rural Pennsylvania, Jones grew up on a dairy farm and experienced rural, healthcare clinics firsthand.
“I love rural healthcare because I come from a very rural background,” said Jones. “I went to very small clinics that were very understaffed, so I have a heart for being a person that can step in to fill that gap because I know manning small clinics in rural areas can be very challenging.”
Jones is looking forward to working at the Delta Health West Elk Hotchkiss Clinic and being a part of the community where he will be providing services. He is excited to learn the system, get to know the other medical professionals and learn how he can contribute overall to Delta Health.
“It’s been an extremely welcoming community ever since we moved here,” said Jones. “My family and I are excited to make friends and to learn from the people in the community.”
Life outside of work is busy for Jones, his wife and his children who are 11 years old, eight years old and three years old. They live in Hotchkiss and have plans to grow their small farm with a few chickens, turkeys, beef calves and eventually pack lamas. Jones’s wife is originally from Gunnison and he says they are looking forward to being back on the Western Slope and close to family.
“We are very much into the outdoors as a family, and we love to camp, fish, hunt and love to ride mountain bikes and off-highway vehicles,” said Jones. “We’re very excited to be here in Delta County and on the Western Slope.”
Jones is currently seeing patients at the West Elk Hotchkiss Clinic. The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and every Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Providers will also be available on-call after regular clinic hours 7 days a week to better serve the community.
For more information, call 970.872.1400 or visit deltahealthco.org.
