Dr. Rick Graebe: Doctor Drawn to Practice’s Values
As her college graduation approached, Maria Kirkpatrick remained uncertain about how to put her biology degree to use in the healthcare field.
She had shadowed all kinds of professionals – surgeons, pathologists, occupational therapists – and she had earned a license as a certified nurse assistant. Still searching, she returned home to Henderson, Ky., and visited her optometrist, Dr. Bobby Cottingham.
“When I talked with him, something just clicked,” Kirkpatrick said. “He talked about building lifelong relationships with patients. Suddenly it made sense.”
“The things that are most important to me are the relationships you have and the people you care about.”
That connected with what she had heard from her older sister – Dr. Amy Kirkpatrick, an optometrist in Texas.
“She said it was a great profession and a great career,” Maria said.
So off to optometry school she went, spending four years in Memphis at the Southern College of Optometry. Even though she loved working with children, Kirkpatrick served a one-year residency at a V.A. hospital in Huntington, West Virginia working with older adults with ocular disease.
“I believe that you can’t be over prepared as a doctor,” she said. “Working there prepared me for the real world and expanded my horizons as a clinician.”
Her next stop was a clinic in Danville where she worked for more than three years with all kinds of patients in a full service practice.
Now, Dr. Kirkpatrick has joined the staff at Dr. Rick Graebe’s practice in Versailles where she will handle primary care optometry for patients from children to seniors. She also will specialize in treating dry eye.
What sold her on Dr. Graebe’s practice were the values his team embraces.
“This practice is about care, compassion and integrity and I was drawn to that,” she said.
Dr. Graebe’s willingness to consider all options for patients was also appealing.
“He is very open to doing what is best for patients,” she said. “We can be the best practitioners we can be and I love that. I can see myself working here the rest of my life and building lifelong relationships with patients.”
Just like her hometown optometrist.