Dr. Kirk Bliss, DO, signs with KDH, to start May 27

 

March 18, 2020

Dr. Kirk Bliss, D.O., and his wife Michelle look forward to his practicing medicine at the Kiowa District Hospital starting May 27.

The Kiowa District Hospital in Kiowa, Kansas, added a doctor to it's roster Friday, March 13. He is Dr. Kirk Bliss, DO, from Wichita, but it's not his first time in Barber County.

Growing up in Maize, Kansas, Dr. Bliss had a farming background. He went to college at Emporia State where he played football. Then he earned his medical degree at the University of Health Science and Osteopathic Medicine which is now the Kansas City University of Health and Bio Science. He did his residency through the KU Medical Center at Wesley in Wichita.

Dr. Bliss had a scholarship to practice rural medicine and that road led him to Medicine Lodge to see patients at their hospital. He was there from 2002 to 2005 and developed lifelong friendships and patients.

In 1992 Dr. Bliss married Michelle, his wife of 28 years. From Medicine Lodge they moved back to Wichita where he practiced with the West Wichita Family Physicians for almost 15 years to present.


Why did he want to leave? Dr. Bliss explained, "The pressures of practicing medicine in the cities are forcing you to spend less time with patients and see more and more patients. I just wanted to slow down a bit and get back to being able to spend more time with patients and not be pressured by having to see so many patients in a limited time frame. I want to be able to practice medicine more like I was trained to do – to have time to work up their problems. I want to see older patients and those with more serious health problems."

Dr. Bliss said, "I like the pace in this rural area."

Board certified for family practice, Dr. Bliss said he enjoys working the emergency room. He's agreed to be on-call for ER one day per week and one weekend per month.


Dr. Bliss joins the KDH provider team of Dr. Paul Wilhelm, MD, chief of staff; Melissa Stroh, PA-C; and Mary Wilkins, APRN.

Dr. Wilhelm is in the clinic Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Dr. Bliss will see patients on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

KDH CEO and CFO Janell Goodno said, "I am very excited to welcome Dr. Kirk Bliss to our Kiowa District Healthcare provider team. With an additional physician, our healthcare system will have a doctor in our clinic five days a week. KDH has excellent mid-levels and with this addition, our patients and community will have multiple provider options."

Observing KDH, Dr. Bliss said he "likes the team approach" Goodno has.


Dr. Bliss said he was totally impressed with such a nice facility in a rural community. His wife and those of their six children who've visited KDH were also complimentary. The Blisses have four sons and two daughters. Their oldest son is 26 and works in a medical clinic in Wichita. The other three boys are college students at Kansas State University. Their oldest daughter is a junior at Maize South and their youngest a fifth grader. Michelle is a teacher but is not teaching full-time. She substitutes and is also involved in an appraisal business.

While at Kiowa, Dr. Bliss said he'll stay either at the hospital's physician house at 9th and Drumm; in one of the on-call rooms at the hospital; or one of the new physicians rooms that will be in the new Wellness/Physical Therapy and Behavioral Health Building Addition, to be constructed this spring at the hospital.


Dr. Bliss said he's excited to practice in Kiowa at this "very nice" facility. As area folks get to know him they'll learn his family has a small hobby farm where they raise horses, donkeys and goats. He's into aviation – owns and flies a 1951 Cessna. The remainder of his time goes to his "kids events."

He'll be in the clinic Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

 

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