Welcome Dr. John Mansell

Welcome Dr. John Mansell 
After years of traveling to Wyoming to visit family and enjoy his new-found love of snow sports, Anesthesiologist and Pain Management specialist John Mansell and his wife Dona decided it would be easier to live here instead.

"We like being closer to the area, just hop in the car, or cross-country ski out the back door of the house", he said.

He attended medical school at his home state's University of South Alabama and completed his anesthesiology residency at Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans.

"In the era before there were fellowships in pain, we used our fourth year of residency to pursue our subspecialty, which for me was pain management." Dr. Mansell attained his Board Certification in Pain Management in 1994.

His practice in pain management has extended overseas as well with three deployments to Iraq, one to Kosovo, and acting as the Department Chief for the United Arab Emirates military anesthesiology and pain departments from 2000-2002 .

"Working overseas with fellow soldiers and teaching them how to do their jobs without hurting themselves has been a great experience ," said Dr. Mansell. "Campbell County has such a hardworking community, it feels like there is a great similarity there. Fortunately we have such great physical therapists in this community I can focus more on treating the pain. No one should be defined by their pain."

Dr. Mansell has served as a flight surgeon both in the US and overseas, acting in the role of a primary doctor and medical review officer for aircrews. He was the Chief of Aviation Medicine for the Wisconsin Army National Guard for the six years before moving to Gillette. He also passed the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's Medical Review Officer credentialing exam just before his last deployment to Iraq last year.

He came to Wyoming from an anesthesiology practice in Rockford, Illinois, where Dr. Tammy Dutter moved when she left Gillette.

"We just switched places", said Dr. Mansell. "It's quite ironic when you think about it."

Dr. Mansell accepts provider referrals for his pain management practice at Wyoming Interventional Pain Management (Northern Plains Anesthesia Associates), and has already performed many different pain management procedures at Powder River Surgery Center. As part of their treatment, he may also teach his patients proper ergonomics, or refer them to physical therapy, neurology, psychiatry or another specialist for evaluation.

"My job is to make myself go out of business with my patients", said Dr. Mansell. "I like find real-life metrics for patients to talk about their pain, like asking what part of the day they dread the most, such as bending down to feed the dog or going up the back steps. This kind of focus on personal challenges is better than a numerical pain scale."