Dr. Kelsey Thomas, MD joins RHSHC

CRESCO - Dr. Kelsey Thomas, MD, will be starting work at Regional Health Services of Howard County (RHSHC) on Sept. 1. Originally from Greenville, Miss., Thomas did her undergraduate work in Houston at Texas Southern. 

“I picked Houston because it was the only major city that I could think of that I didn’t have a relative,” she said, laughing. “I come from a large family, so I was trying to escape all of my cousins and uncles and aunts.” As it turned out, however, an uncle moved to Houston in the middle of her freshman year, and she found herself really enjoying Sunday dinners with family after all.

During her undergraduate studies, Thomas did a lot of microbiology research in the lab and even worked with NASA in that capacity. “Initially, I thought that’s where I was going to go,” she said. “Then I got more in depth into the biology side, and that’s how I got into medicine.

“It started in the microlab,” she went on, “looking at how the bacteria grew, and then how it infected humans. It was kind of like, ‘Oh, this is how the human body works,’ and it just kind of took off from there.”

After graduation from Texas Southern, Thomas went to medical school in the Caribbean, where she first developed an interest in Obstetrics. “It was one of those subjects that I could read and read and not ever get tired of it,” she said. When she returned to Jackson, Miss. for her residency, she got to do some pre-natal care and some deliveries. “It was something I just loved,” she said.

Her time in Mississippi, both growing up and later, during her residency, really prepared Thomas for working in a smaller community health care system. “Mississippi is still very rural, even in the bigger parts,” she noted, so she’s well familiar with the unique requirements of healthcare in a more rural setting.

Thomas became interested in RHSHC because the position offered opportunities in both Family Medicine and Obstetrics. “That’s where I want to build my practice,” she said. “And when I came and interviewed, everyone was so nice. Small town, everyone knew everyone. This is kind of where I want to be.”

Thomas’s husband, Andrew, has also found a home at RHSHC, where he works in Human Resources, so it is a good fit for both of them.

Thomas, her husband and their three-year-old daughter have relocated to Cresco, and they hope to be building their home soon. They’ve been here since mid-July and so far, everything has been good. “We’re in warm weather now,” the Mississippi native noted with a chuckle. “So we’ll see. But we did live in Chicago for four years, so we got a bit of the winter there. We survived the Chicago winters, so I think we can manage here.” 

When asked about her favorite part of the job, Thomas said making connections tops her list. The conversations she has with patients. Getting to know them and their lives.

Her least favorite part? The paperwork, of course.

When she’s not working, Thomas enjoys cooking and playing with her daughter. “She keeps us busy,” Thomas said. “She’s very active and does not like to sit still in the house, so we have to get out on the bike trails and be active or else the house will look like a tornado hit it.”  

“I have a brochure from the Chamber of Commerce,” she added with a laugh. “So we have all the bike trails in that.”

If you’d like to book an appointment with Dr. Thomas, you can do so by calling the Cresco Medical Clinic at 563-547-2022. She is excited to meet her new patients.