Audrey Caro Gomez
Meaghan O’Connor was conflicted about being a nutrition major when she worked at McDonald’s while in college.
Something didn’t compute, she said.
“My dad actually suggested that I apply for a job at a local care facility,” O’Connor said. “It’s sort of in the medical field. It just clicked. I really liked my job there. I liked working with the elderly. It was an all-around good experience, I think.”
Now that she’s a physician’s assistant at Sweet Home Family Medicine, that age group is still one of O’Connor’s favorites to work with.
O’Connor recently started working at Sweet Home Family Medicine.
What she wants to give her patients is “compassion and understanding of where they’re coming from and safety in my practice,” O’Connor said. “You know sometimes they may not like what I have to say and what I offer, but I want to do what’s best for them and what’s safe for them.”
As a recent grad, she is not receiving new patients yet, but O’Connor has seen patients for Alan Blake who suffered a stroke last June.
Among the things she is working on in her new role is her time management skills.
“Not taking an hour with every patient, because I like to chat with them,” O’Connor specified.
“Patients like that,” said Kristin Ashcraft, regional operations manager.
“They do, but my schedule doesn’t really like that,” O’Connor said with a laugh.
She is allowed to take a little longer because she is new, but as she gets to know people it will make things easier.
O’Connor, 28, grew up in West Linn and earned a bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University before obtaining her master’s degree from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.
She was familiar with the Sweet Home area from her time at OSU.
“I knew I really liked the area, so when I was back in Montana and looking for jobs, I started looking in this area and saw that Samaritan was the prominent health care system,” O’Connor said. “I started looking to see what they were about and I liked what I saw and applied.”
O’Connor had several phone conversations with Samaritan recruiter Veronica McShane about different job opportunities.
“I was really impressed with her actually,” O’Connor said. “That sort of gave me a good feeling about Samaritan.”
After her interview, O’Connor thought Sweet Home Family Medicine would be a good fit.
“I got along with everybody, and they all kind of practiced the way I wanted to practice medicine,” she said.
The scenery helped too.
“We always have to drive around the lake with new recruits,” Ashcraft said.
“Kristin took me around Foster Lake during my interview,” O’Connor said.
She is also looking forward to visiting Green Peter in the summer.
“She came in November, so she hasn’t had the good weather yet,” Ashcraft said.
O’Connor’s already enjoying the area though.
“West Linn is a town of 25,000 and it’s close to Portland so you have a little bit easier access to things,” she said. “Whereas, Sweet Home especially, and Lebanon, you drive a little bit further to get to where you want to go but the trade off for that is you get really beautiful land out here.”
O’Connor has moved to Lebanon, near family, and commutes to Sweet Home.
“It’s a lot quieter (than West Linn). It’s a lot slower pace, and that’s very nice,” she said. “And there’s no traffic! That’s so nice.”