Jessica Ott, MD, already seeing patients at GNMSS Family Medicine
Jessica Ott, MD
Please Note: This article has been updated for clarifification purposes. Dr. Ott is providing family medicine now, and plans to provide obstetrics in the future. She is not doing so at present.
Meet Greater Nebraska Medical & Surgical Services (GNMSS) Family Practice newest physician, Jessica Ott, MD. Dr. Ott started her orientation process at GNMSS on an auspicious day, September 30; the day Box Butte General Hospital held its Grand Opening ceremony. “I on-boarded at ribbon cutting,” she said. “How much better can it be then that? The time I was here for my site visit (back in September of 2014) I had to wear a hardhat to tour the new addition. It was such a kick to tour the new building a year later to see the nearly final result. It’s going to be awesome for our patients, providers and staff.”
Dr. Ott received her BA degree in Biology from Hastings College in Hastings, NE in 2006. Her medical education began that same year at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha, obtaining her Medical Degree in May of 2012. She began her family medicine residency training a couple months later at Rapid City Regional Hospital Family Medicine, completing her residency in 2015.
“I’ll be focusing on family medicine for patients from birth to geriatric,” Dr. Ott said, “and I plan to eventually do obstetrics as well. I love seeing kids and am familiar with pediatrics.”
Dr. Ott is originally from Henderson, NE, located southeast of York. “Because of that, I knew I wanted to practice in a rural setting, and when the opportunity to start looking for a place to practice started last year, the recruiter I contacted saw that a position in Alliance had just opened up,” she said. “Alliance was perfect for myself and my boyfriend. Most of his family lives in Rapid City and most of mine live in the Henderson area. So the location was great, and after my site visit and seeing how nice the community was, it was an easy decision.”
Her most rewarding aspect of being a doctor is education. “My favorite part of being a physician is having a chance to educate my patients such as ‘this is what you need to do to lower your blood pressure; this is what you need to do to control your diabetes.’ Just getting them to be healthier in general is rewarding. Essentially I like taking care of people.”
Dr. Ott has wanted to be a physician her whole life. “I knew what I wanted to do at the age of five,” she said. “I became really sick and had to go to the hospital for care. I don’t remember any of the doctors who cared for me, but I do remember the nurses and watching them care for their patients. Just watching them care for me and others made me want to become a doctor so that I could do the same.”
Through her years studying to be a physician, Dr. Ott somehow found the time to volunteer for numerous organizations, ranging from being a medical volunteer for Special Olympics of Nebraska to being a counselor for the SEPA Health and Science Fun Camp, to vacation bible school volunteer to being on the Leadership Committee for Douglas County Corrections STD testing. For relaxing, Dr. Ott enjoys reading, listing to music, singing, playing the piano, cooking, baking, scrapbooking, sewing and crocheting. “I just took up crocheting and let’s just say the effort isn’t turning out very well,” she joked.
Dr. Ott concluded by saying she couldn’t wait to start seeing patients. “I especially can’t wait to start caring for patients in the new patient care unit. It’s designed perfectly. In Rapid City everyone is redoing all of their floors from a pod system with the nursing station in the middle of all the rooms of that pod, which is how the old PCU at BBGH is designed. That proved to be rather noisy for patients. This new design of having a circulation area for providers and nurses to do their work, while still providing easy observation of patients, is so much better. It’s a great design idea.”
Chief Ancillary Officer Scott Alwin welcomed Dr. Ott to the practice, saying, “We are very happy and proud to have Dr. Jessica Ott joining the GNMSS clinic. Having another physician in the clinic and hospital will only improve the great care known for BBGH, and will help meet the needs of our community by improving access into the Family Practice Clinic. We warmly welcome her to the practice.”
Dr. Ott has already started seeing patients at GNMSS Family Medicine in Alliance. Appointments can be made by calling 308.762.7244.
Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
