VCOM 2023 Annual Report

Prioritizing Patient Voices and Embracing Whole-Person Wellness

K ristin Lynch Grimes, DO, VCOM-Virginia '13, knew from the age of seven that she wanted to be a physician. One of her defining childhood memories is of her previously healthy grandmother being admitted to a hospital on a Friday afternoon and dying just two days later. “I remember observing what was going on and listening to my mom and her siblings talking, but the voice of my family wasn’t being heard by the medical professionals,” she recalls. Even at age seven, she knew that wasn’t right. “I was paying attention to everything that was going on, and after my grandmother passed away, I said, ‘I want to be a doctor to make sure I listen to people and take the best care of them and their families,” Dr. Grimes remembers.

“I want to be a doctor to make sure I listen to people and take the best care of them and their families.”

in a professional environment,” she says. “The idea that we’re going to take care of our people translates from the student environment to the doctor-patient environment.” After completing her DO degree at VCOM Virginia, Dr. Grimes headed to LSU Health New Orleans to complete a dual residency in internal medicine and pediatrics. Dr. Grimes is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, so it’s not surprising that her current work finds her practicing in her home state. In late 2023, she was able to open her own practice: The Louisiana Center for Health and Wellness in Baton Rouge. Though she is only about a year into her new venture, she has definite ideas about its future. She wants to have her practice on one side of the building and the wellness center on the other, where there will be fitness coaching, a demonstration kitchen and nutrition counseling, a dance studio and mental health counseling. The idea is that her patients will be able to receive the many different services they need all in one place. “This will be a true medical home,” Dr. Grimes says. “Patients won’t feel like they are a number, and they’ll have accountability because they know Dr. Grimes will be checking up on this.” Dr. Grimes also hopes her practice will be a catalyst for the neighborhood, which lacks many important resources. “Once it’s completed, it’s going to be a really awesome opportunity for patients and for people in the community in general,” she says.

It wasn’t until grad school that she did some research on osteopathy and found VCOM. While studying at

VCOM, Dr. Grimes got what she wishes her family had experienced during that long-ago weekend: She was listened to. “In addition to teaching us how to be good doctors, they taught us about good working relationships

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