Today is National Doctor’s Day, and in the past year it has become glaringly obvious just how crucial our healthcare providers really are. Take a chance to honor the hard work and dedication doctors provide to their communities all across the country today (and every day!).
In honor of this special holiday, we want to highlight our newest family physician on staff: Dr. Netra Thakur. Dr. Thakur first came to Alliance Medical Ministry as a volunteer family physician when COVID broke out in March 2020. She joined staff last summer, and we are so excited to have her on our team! She now serves as Co-Medical Director alongside Dr. Sheryl Joyner as well.
Dr. Thakur, who is originally from Philadelphia and worked for a long time in Maryland and then North Carolina before coming to AMM, shared that it was the staff that initially drew her to AMM: “Right off the bat I noticed the quality of the staff and the providers. They’re very much true to the mission, very much patient-focused, and really responsible to being able to provide quality care. You couldn’t ask for better partners than Joanna and Josh and Dr. Joyner, because they’re smart, and they’re caring, and they really do take responsibility and ownership for their patients,” she reported.
She also loves that AMM takes a holistic approach to healthcare, caring for patients in mind, body and spirit. “Food really does affect health,” she stated. Nutrition is an especially important issue at AMM, she affirmed, since many patients are diabetic or pre-diabetic or have cultural, familial, or financial barriers that can prevent them from eating healthfully. She is excited to encourage her patients to cook with vegetables from our garden and take advantage of our Yoga and Zumba classes.
“You can’t provide healthcare if you aren’t considering issues around social determinants of health. Everybody [at AMM] gets that… I feel that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, so that’s why I’m attracted to being with a patient population that wouldn’t have resources otherwise,” she said. We are all inspired by Dr. Thakur’s compassion and competence and grateful to have her on board with us.
Thank you to Dr. Thakur, Dr. Joyner, Josh, Joanna, and all our nurses and medical staff for their important work caring for the health and wellbeing of the Wake County community.