Meet Mary Patterson, PA, the May 2017 CCH Provider of the Month

Our providers are experts... and great people too! Meet Mary Patterson, PA, the May 2017 CCH Provider of the Month.

Mary joined the medical staff in 2012 and practices in the Walk-in Clinic in Gillette, Wyoming. When Mary’s father sat her down after high school for a conversation about her future, he wanted her to become a teacher. What could be better, he said, with summers off and weekday hours; but Mary told him she needed to be in healthcare. She became a registered nurse, and after 15 years was ready for a bigger challenge.

Mary received her physician assistant (PA) degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, living in a convent while she was in PA school. The nuns packed her lunch every day and had dinner ready when she got home. Mary says it was just like being back in high school.

Mary likes practicing at the Walk-in Clinic because of the variety and challenges with the patients she sees. In a day, she may see patients with a deep laceration, pneumonia, or someone having a heart attack that is then transferred to the Emergency Department. She feels great satisfaction in being able to offer relief to her patients and their families.

Mary has a special interest in pain management and was also seeing patients in CCMG Neurology until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She was able to continue working in the Walk-in Clinic during the majority of her treatment and feels it really contributed to being able to remain positive about her diagnosis. She says that she really had to work because if she didn’t, she may not have been able to get back up. Mary hopes to begin seeing pain management patients again soon.

Mary and her husband Tom have four grown children. One son, Mary’s parents, and a sister live in Sheridan, and the other children and grandchildren live in South Carolina. That leaves the Pattersons at home with their ‘pet’ children, Shih Tzus Frankie and Finley. Mary also enjoys sewing, gardening, and traveling.

Thank you, Mary Patterson, PA, for providing our patients with excellent care.