New clinic opens in Vincent
In a time when personal attention in medical care may seem like a relic of the past, Dr. Rock Helms sees his new practice – Helms Healthcare – as reconnecting the patient and the doctor and employing modern advances to enhance the whole experience.
The longtime Pell City family medicine physician opened Helms Healthcare in nearby Vincent in late-March, offering “a concierge-type practice for everybody,” he said. “When you call, you get a human. When you want to be seen, you can be seen right away. We prefer appointments, but it’s not a mandate.”
The aim is to make it easier for patients to have “easy access to their doctor or nurse practitioner for medication refills, questions about test results or a question about referrals to a specialist,” Helms explained. “Typically, there are too many barriers to achieve that. I want to break those barriers down.”
Dr. Helms envisions a practice where the doctor-patient relationship is at the core, reminiscent of the times when doctors knew their patients personally and were deeply invested in their well-being. It gives the doctor a more comprehensive understanding of the patient’s health history and needs.
