Dr. Keith Wright wraps up local practice

Dr. Keith Wright will soon be leaving Wahkiakum County for a new adventure. On June 25, Wright and his family will be headed for Brownstown, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Wright’s last day in the office is today.

Dr. Wright has been practicing in Cathlamet for 13 years and decided it was time to move on. Ultimately, Dr. Wright wants to pursue more overseas mission work.

Moving to Pennsylvania will give Dr. Wright time to partake of hobbies like flying and music, perhaps eventually forming a barbershop quartet. He has little formal music training, however, took some classes in college and spent three years in a traveling choir.

Dr. Wright said he attended college all over. While attending Kentucky Mountain Bible College in Breathitt County, he met his wife, Gwenda. That’s where the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s lived, Dr. Wright said. “They still run Moonshine there.”

He continued his studies at Olivet Nazarene University and attended medical school at Southern Illinois University.

The family has mixed feelings about their new adventure. “We are all excited and nervous,” he said.

Dr. Wright said he felt it was time to leave because he watched the clinic transition from PeaceHealth to county ownership. Along with changes in medicine made it difficult to practice in a rural location. It changes the doctor-patient relationship, Wright said.

Returning to Pennsylvania will be a change, but one that Dr. Wright said he isn’t worried about. He attended a Mennonite school as a child and will be going to a highly Mennonite/Amish area. “It has what I feel is the best of both worlds,” a country environment with farms around, yet close to a lot of amenities and cities.

Working in a small town can be a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing, he said. Dr. Wright said he appreciated knowing his patients outside of the office. “In a small community, you get to know people as people; not just as a diagnosis.” He got to know whole families, where they lived and sometimes their pets.

“After living here for 13 years, I feel like I’ve become part of the family for a lot of people,” he said. “I feel like my life has been enriched being here. I just hope that our clinic can continue to provide excellent medical care to the community in the future.”