COVER STORY

Dr. Amy Garcia
Offers Peace of Mind — and a Shorter Recovery Time
Photos by Marie Leslie Photography

FEATURES

Doctors Make House Calls!
By Beth Donahue

Forensic Pathologist
Dr. Michelle Barry
Not Your Typical “CSI”
By Tamara Barry

Dr. Amy Garcia: Offers Peace of Mind - and a Shorter Recovery Time
Photos by Marie Leslie Photography

Dr. Amy Garcia beams when she speaks of her patients running or working out at the gym a week after a hysterectomy, or the same day of an in-office sterilization procedure called Essure. Granted, these are the extremely active patients, but nearly all of Dr. Garcia’s patients express amazement at how quickly they recover after minimally invasive surgery.

They universally rave about Dr. Garcia’s bedside manner as well.

Dr. Amy Garcia is not your usual gynecologist. The only surgeon of her kind in New Mexico, she completed a special fellowship in minimally invasive women’s surgery in Chicago. She then returned home to Albuquerque in 2003 because she felt a commitment to bring these advanced techniques back to New Mexico where they are so needed. When asked to explain minimally invasive surgery, Dr. Garcia says, “My goal is to utilize an approach that poses the least possible risk to the patient’s health, recovery, and quality of life. It is a creative process. When I evaluate a patient, I am thinking about how I can treat her problem in the least invasive way possible.”

Holding a tiny, delicate coil in her hand, Dr. Garcia’s eyes dance as she describes the Essure procedure. A miniature camera is introduced into the woman’s uterus through her cervix, guiding placement of the coil into each fallopian tube. The procedure requires no incision, general anesthesia or hospitalization. The result? Permanent sterilization. A few minutes later, the woman walks comfortably out of the doctor’s office.

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Doctors Make House Calls!
By Beth Donahue

Did you ever feel so sick you wished a doctor would make a house call? Did you ever get sick when your doctor couldn’t get you in for a week or more? If you believe the emergency room might be your only other option, it’s not so!

Doctor on Call has the answer.

Dr. John R. Vigil opened Doctor on Call the first day of 2005 after becoming frustrated at being unable to spend time with patients who needed his time and understanding. Dr. Vigil chose a path of revolution—he opened what appears to be the only medical practice of its kind in Albuquerque. Doctor on Call provides an innovative and unique general medicine practice with the goal of providing personal physician services and comprehensive health care at the patient’s convenience, at a reasonable cost, and in an environment that is familiar and comfortable to the patient, such as their home or place of employment. Plus, Doctor on Call sees patients Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. at their clinic.

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Forensic Pathologist Dr. Michelle Barry
Not Your Typical “CSI”
By Tamara Barry

When Dr. Michelle Barry tells people she’s a forensic pathologist, they usually ask her if her work is like that on the popular television show CSI . Although her job doesn’t quite fit any of those profiled on television, her work days often are filled with fascinating medical cases, some involving drama, murder, and mystery.

Dr. Barry is a forensic pathologist at the Office of the Medical Investigator at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She is an associate medical investigator, assistant professor of pathology, and hospital autopsy co-director. She has been in her current position for almost two years, but has been performing autopsies for more than seven years.

The Office of the Medical Investigator has legal jurisdiction over all sudden, unexpected, and violent deaths for the state of New Mexico.

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