The unfortunate departure of Dr. Douglas White recently created a gap in medical services in the Hays area. While the affable physician is missed by many, perhaps no group was affected more acutely than those in nursing home and assisted care facilities. Dr. White was the primary physician for scores of such patients; his absence left many scrambling for a solution.

Thanks to the stop-gap care provided by White's former colleagues at Hays Family Medicine, none of the nursing home residents were without care until this past week.

And thanks to the efforts of the Hays Medical Center, these patients will have a primary physician from this point forward. HMC's First Care Clinic, which just opened in the Eddy Clinic, has agreed to tend to the urgent patient need.

"We feel like this will be a good opportunity," said Jay Moore, executive director of physician practices.

The opportunity sprang up quickly, as HMC had recruited a different physician to cover the nursing home visits -- and that doctor later declined the offer.

Patients and care-givers alike grew anxious as the series of events unfolded. State law, after all, requires nursing home residents to have a primary physician assigned to them and a doctor must be available to make rounds at the homes.

That Hays Medical Center chose to take on the responsibility of ensuring a solution was in place was nothing it was required to do. But HMC's commitment to quality care for the entire community prompted administrators to solve the problem. And to solve the problem a second time within as many weeks.

We applaud the medical center for its attention to this matter. It speaks volumes of the critical role HMC plays. While we would have preferred to not have to deal with the loss of Dr. White, whom we will miss, it is comforting to know the entire medical field places patient care above all else.

Editorial by Patrick Lowry

plowry@dailynews.net