Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The DPC community is awesome! Within a week we were able to raise over $10K for Teresa Mahaffey, M.D. If you don’t know the story, her clinic, Blessed Minds, was destroyed by a tornado.

Dr. Mahaffey, through a random email conversation with her, told me of the catastrophe. I wanted you all to know how you are helping a real DPC doc so here is more from her:

I have a husband of 30 years who works at the VA. Our oldest son, Patrick, is 29 and has autism. He lives with us and is obsessed with wasps and military planes. Peter, our second oldest is in film and is currently planning a trip to Russia where his wife and daughter live. He got stuck here when he came home to make money and then Covid hit. Our daughter, Katie is married to a great guy, lives in Escondido, Cal. They have a daughter, Shiloh, who is 2 and has Cri du Chat syndrome. They are amazing parents.

I started my DPC practice on Sept. 3rd, 2019. The best business decision I ever made. Inspired by your book, I began one of the best transitions of my professional life. I had worked solo for about 15 years and then had to sell once the ACA was instituted. All told, I’ve been in pediatrics for about 30 years.

Since the tornado hit I’ve been seeing patients in a church nursery, thanks to the incredible generosity of the pastor.  I lost a lot of my paperwork, supplies, furniture and, most importantly, my fax. Insurance paid 32,000… The building was destroyed and will take a long while to be restored. In the meantime, I bought a piece of land with an old house on it..circa 1930…that I hope to restore. Getting a contractor here who communicates is tough..they are all stretched thin with new builds as we’ve had an influx of transplants here in Florida from New York and California.  Prices have skyrocketed along with the population. Once my property is zoned commercial I’ll start seeing patients in an old Airstrem I bought last week in Mobile… I had to do something to establish a practice location. Until then, I can’t place orders with Andameds for meds. I have learned a lot these past 2 months..patience, perseverance, and gratitude. I am so thankful for all who have helped me during this time..and so very grateful for the generosity of those known and unknown.

Her clinic website is blessedminds.org and is located in Pace, Florida, which is in the Pensacola area.

UPDATE AGAIN: You can still donate. Her GoFundMe link is https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-teresa-mahaffey-fix-tornado-damaged-clinic

18100cookie-checkA Big Thank You to All My DPC Brothers and Sisters for Helping Dr. Mahaffey. We Raised Over $10K for Her Clinic!
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By Douglas Farrago, MD

Douglas Farrago MD is board certified in the specialty of Family Practice. He is the inventor of a product called the Knee Saver which is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Knee Saver and its knock-offs are worn by many major league baseball catchers. He is also the inventor of the CryoHelmet used by athletes for head injuries as well as migraine sufferers. From 2001 – 2011, Dr. Farrago was the editor and creator of the Placebo Journal which ran for 10 full years. Described as the Mad Magazine for doctors, he and the Placebo Journal were featured in the Washington Post, US News and World Report, the AP, and the NY Times. Douglas Farrago, MD received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Education degree in the area of Exercise Science from the University of Houston in 1990, and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas at Houston in 1994. His residency training occurred way up north at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. In his final year, he was elected Chief Resident by his peers. Dr. Farrago has practiced family medicine for twenty-three years, first in Auburn, Maine and now in Forest, Virginia. He founded Forest Direct Primary Care in 2014, which quickly filled in 18 months. Dr. Farrago still blogs every day on his website Authenticmedicine.com and lectures worldwide about the present crisis in our healthcare system and the effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Farrago’s has written three books on direct primary care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice, The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal and Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) are all best sellers in this genre. He is a leading expert in direct primary care model and lectures medical students, residents, and doctors on how to start their own DPC practice. He retired from clinical medicine in October, 2020.

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