Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s new dermatologist, Dr. J. Hibler will be the first to tell you, it\u2019s been a long road home. Recently Board Certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Dermatology, Dr. Hibler grew up working in his father\u2019s dermatology office in Ohio, which confirmed his interest in the specialty. <\/p>\n
He was drawn to dermatology because of its hands on nature, and its visual aspect. Dermatology, like radiology and surgery are \u201cvery visual specialties. I\u2019m blessed with a knack for picking up visual patterns,\u201d said Dr. Hibler. Rashes, for example, have surface changes. It\u2019s a \u201cpuzzle and a challenge. Pattern recognition is what makes dermatology so fascinating.\u201d
\nDr. Hibler not only knew what he wanted to do, he also had a fairly good idea of where he wanted to do it. His father was in the Navy, so he\u2019s seen quite a bit of the country. After living in 21 different places growing up, he said he felt like he\u2019d already spent enough time in Southern California, and was ready to move on from the Midwest, as well.<\/p>\n
Northern California, however, has always interested him. \u201cI\u2019m attracted by the mountain culture and the beauty of the area,\u201d said Dr. Hibler, who has been hoping eventually to make this move for the past fifteen to twenty years. \u201cThere\u2019s something unexplainable about a rural, forested area. I love it here, and so does my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Hibler lives in King\u2019s Beach and works with Dr. Kamenentsky in Truckee. It was Dr. Kamenentsky who suggested he might contact Eastern Plumas Health Care to see if they needed a part time dermatology specialist. \u201cI called Tom (EPHC\u2019s Chief Executive Officer), and we hit it off right away,\u201d said Dr. Hibler. \u201cIt\u2019s been nothing but blue skies.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also feels comfortable at EPHC because he is drawn to rural people and places. Back home in Ohio, the county he was from bordered on Appalachia. \u201cThat\u2019s rural,\u201d said Dr. Hibler. \u201cPeople are underserved. If I didn\u2019t have that beginning, I probably wouldn\u2019t have the interest I do in Portola or even Truckee. I have a sincere appreciation and longing to serve the people I\u2019ve been around most of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Also, he did a telemedicine project in rural East Africa for three months. That \u201cwas an eye opening experience,\u201d he said. \u201cI realize that underserved is a relative term. When you go to a place in Uganda or Kenya . . . and travel time for patients to the clinic is two days\u2014that gives you an idea of rural.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the beauty of the place, Dr. Hibler said that Northern California rural is much friendlier than the Midwestern version. \u201cIf you\u2019re going through Sierraville or Loyalton or Satley, and you make eye contact, you\u2019ve got to give a wave on the road\u2014it\u2019s how you do it. You don\u2019t do that in Columbus, OH. Here, it\u2019s like home automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Dr. Hibler, home encompasses the whole of a life. \u201cHome for me is not just the physical place, it\u2019s the accumulation of that and friends and family\u2014whatever passion you have\u2026there\u2019s that niche you have. For me, it\u2019s my practice, that my wife is happy, we get to enjoy outside and nature\u2014the whole package that makes home home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patients can call EPHC\u2019s Portola Clinic at 832-6600 to make an appointment with Dr. Hibler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s new dermatologist, Dr. J. Hibler will be the first to tell you, it\u2019s been a long road home. Recently Board Certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Dermatology, Dr. Hibler grew up working in his father\u2019s dermatology office in Ohio, which confirmed his interest in the specialty. He was drawn to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}