SEYMOUR (KFDX/KJTL) — It’s all come full circle for Seymour Hospital Family Physician Dr. Adam Hertel.

“I was actually born in this hospital in Seymour, grew up here, loved the community, always had aspirations to come back and serve it as a doctor,” Hertel said.

So he did, bringing his wife and three daughters along for the ride. He said it’s a place he’s proud to work.

“Seymour is full of just genuinely nice people,” Hertel said. “You come here, you’re greeted with a smile, you’re taken care of, people have a vested interest of making sure that everyone in town is well taken care of and that they know that they’re cared for and that they know their family can come in and feel that support too.”

Hertel said small-town healthcare allows more one-on-one contact with patients.

“The good thing about working in a small town, especially Seymour, is you get to interact with patients on all facets of their healthcare, so you get to see them in the clinic, if you admit them to the hospital then you’re their primary care physician there, you cover the ER, so you’re following the patients throughout their life,” Hertel said.

The hospital has seen recent upgrades Hertel said are a game-changer for the many services offered.

“We deliver babies here and recently renovated those rooms to make it more comfortable,” Hertel said. “We offer other things: we have colonoscopies, EGDs here, in addition to all just kind of routine medical care, acute care, hospital – that type of thing.”

Rural hospitals can still offer the same treatments and equipment that would be available in bigger cities.

“We have the in-patient rehab, we have our own in-house lab that we do all labwork here, a radiology department has not only xray and CT, we have MRI capabilities on the weekend and ultrasound capabilities as well, so we really try to make it convenient with high-quality care,” Hertel said.

Seymour Hospital also has specialists who come to town once a month and a general surgeon who performs surgery there once a week.

The hospital faced a true test when a Greyhound bus wrecked at the Mabelle intersection, sending many to Seymour for emergency care.

“I was the one on call, and it’s usually just one physician that’s on call, but everybody from the community who had a healthcare background came up and helped out,” Hertel said. “The doctors came in and triaged patients, the nurses came in from home health, the home health agencies around town, from the clinic, from the hospital – everybody just kind of came in, worked together, even people that have moved into more administrative roles came in and helped with paperwork and patient care needs if they had the healthcare background, and yeah we all just kind of came together.”

The healthcare community was working as a team in a small-town hospital with big expectations.

“In general, we try to get employees that live in the community that we serve – the people that have a vested interest here and that are gonna really work to serve the community, not just in a healthcare sense, but everywhere in the community, whether it be school board or volunteering around town, church, that kind of thing,” Hertel said.

Seymour Hospital is a community-driven hospital serving as a one-stop shop for your healthcare needs.

Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy are offered at the fitness center. On top of that, there is cardiac rehab and pulminary rehab. The Randall Wellness Center also offers counseling for people 55 and older.