Olson is resident at HS Health

Megan Olson is Hot Springs Health's first resident of Thermopolis' Rural Training Track out of the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Program. She was chosen out of 300 applicants because of her physician expertise but also as a spokesperson for the program. 

Olson is originally from Cheyenne and is starting her second year of residency this July. Her focus is rural family medicine which covers a pretty broad scope from clinical medicine to hospital medicine, which includes deliveries, c-sections, ER. It also covers nursing home visits, sports medicine. Olson said, "It really encompasses the whole community." 

Hospital CEO Margie Molitor, who was part of Olson's recruitment, said, "We've had a long-standing relationship with the University of Wyoming, WWAMI and the Casper residency. Our physicians said we're ready to give back to our profession and Thermopolis is unique in that our physicians do everything. It's very rare even in small towns to find physicians who are able to do everything like they do here.

Molitor added, "Our physicians said we can give back to our profession but also use it as a recruitment tool because if you get them here for two straight years of training, if they meld well and we have a position then they are likely to stay in this area."

Olson's family roots have been her inspiration to practice medicine. She said, "I've always been interested in medicine since I was very little. I've had lots of family members in the healthcare field, from nurses to EMTs. It was always something I was exposed to. I really haven't considered doing anything else."

Olson received her physiology degree from the University of Wyoming and then went to school through the WWAMI program. WWAMI is through the University of Washington which partners with states that do not have a medical school. They include Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. They take 20 Wyoming students every year. The first 12 months were in Laramie, where she took a lot of classes and then six months of classroom teaching in Seattle. Later Olson came to Thermopolis as part of the Rural Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP).

While here for four weeks in the program Olson had a mindset change. She said, "I thought I would never, ever be a family doctor. I thought that would be the most boring thing. I thought I would see coughs and colds in clinics, there's nothing exciting that happens. And when I came here, my whole focus changed. I saw how it really was probably the most challenging specialty in my mind that you could go into is in family medicine because in a rural town you have to manage the ER and deliveries and clinic. It's the most rewarding too because you work with the community as a whole... Not only is it the kind of medicine I want to do, it is the kind of community I am proud of."

Something that catches the breadth of what she loves to do, Olson said, "I love the full spectrum, from birth to the end of life and just being part of those moments. I love deliveries and c-sections, it's one of the favorite things that I get to do. The honor of being the first person to have your hands on a newborn baby is really, truly incredible. And, then at the same time in family medicine, especially rural, we get the honor of being with someone in their final moments and helping them have dignity at the end of life and be comfortable. I think those two ends of the spectrum really encompass what family medicine is all about."