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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Clinic fills a big need


Dr. Jane-Frances Akpamgbo, originally from Nigeria, talks to Rebecca Mitchell, right, and her six-year-old daughter Hayleigh Middleton during a visit to J.A. Medical Center, a new family practice, urgent care and women's health clinic opened by Akpamgbo in Medical Lake. 
 (Holly Pickett / The Spokesman-Review)
Paula M. Davenport Staff writer

When Dr. Jane-Frances Akpamgbo picks her jobs, she says she tries to find areas where she can do the most good. It didn’t take her long to see the many needs in tiny Medical Lake, population 4,510.

Earlier this year, Akpamgbo (pronounced ahh-POM-bow), a Nigerian native, opened a health clinic on the outskirts of town. She is the sole physician at the clinic, called the J.A. Medical Center, which also employs a certified medical assistant and two support staff.

The petite, soft-spoken doctor, not one to miss a launch date, reported for work just a day after delivering her youngest son, Mihaly, whom she swaddled and brought with her to the clinic.

The J.A. Medical Center provides primary care for families, health care for women (including prenatal and postpartum care), X-rays, laboratory tests and a small pharmacy.

Akpamgbo operated similar practices in Canada and Idaho before settling in the Spokane area, where she briefly worked as a physician at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Meanwhile, her husband, Dr. Michael Akpamgbo, became director of community health intervention and prevention services for the Spokane Regional Health District, cementing their ties to the area.

“Medical Lake is a lovely community. It’s quiet, peaceful and a good place to raise kids,” said the mother of five between appointments Tuesday.

A U.S. board-certified family practice physician, Akpamgbo thought folks living on the West Plains needed to be able to receive medical services closer to home. Her clinic is only the second such facility in Medical Lake. The clinic is included in nine private health insurance plans, and unlike some health care providers, it also accepts new patients whose care is covered under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Lots of doctors have come to frown on the government insurance plans, which can take months to issue reimbursements and pay only a small fraction of the cost of services.

“Family doctors everywhere are feeling the pinch,” she said, “but we are a gateway for patients to access the medical system.”

The neediest people are often the most grateful, she added.

“Patients tell me; ‘Thank you for accepting us.’ That’s what gives me the joy and helps us keep doing what we’re doing,” she said. Presently the clinic counts about 250 patients and adds one or two more a day.

“We’re operating at about 30 percent capacity,” Akpamgbo said. “We envision in the near future we’ll recruit and add more staff and services — we can accommodate up to two more providers.”

A 1991 graduate of Nigeria’s Benin School of Medicine, she completed a three-year residency at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, which treats the city’s poorest patients and whose emergency room sees 4,500 major trauma cases a year.

“It was a madhouse,” Akpamgbo said of her ER rotation there, “but it was very helpful in preparing me for medical practice and life in general.”