New doctor, physician assistant joins McLaren/Oakland Ortonville

By David Fleet
Editor
Two new medical professionals recently joined the staff at McLaren/Oakland Ortonville Family and Internal Medicine, 180 N. Ortonville Road.IMG_3716
Dr. Rachel Young is a Bloomfield Hills native and Birmingham Groves High School graduate. She attended Michigan State University and received an undergraduate degree in psychology. She then attended medical school also at Michigan State University and graduated in 2009 in Family Medicine.
“I like the variety of family medicine,” said Young. “I like the outpatient setting and I like getting to know patients along with the continuity. I like developing the personal relationship with patients versus (working) in the ER.”
Young completed her residency at McLaren Macomb in Mt. Clemens and graduated last June.
An avid traveler, biker, skier and hiker, Young enjoys a variety of sports.
“I really like it here,” she said. “A healthy lifestyle for myself and my patients is something I’ve always been passionate about. So, I do a lot of dietary and lifestyle counseling for people.”
Young is compiling informational guidelines to hand out to patients to help them establish a healthy lifestyle.
“Preventive medicine is in a sense family medicine,” she said.
Tara Taylor, started earlier this year as Physician Assistant at McLaren/Oakland Ortonville Family and Internal Medicine.
“I’m the first PA ever here,” said Taylor.
A physician assistant is a mid level provider, with high aggressive training and serves as an extension of the physician to provide quality care to patients.
“We (PA) can diagnose, we can treat, we can prescribe, order tests just like a doctor,” she said. “We have a collaborative physician that we work with and that’s Dr.Young.”
Taylor is certified by the State of Michigan and nationally.
A Waterford native, Taylor is a Waterford Mott High School graduate, she attended Adrian College for two years, then Michigan Christian College (now Rochester College) before finishing her degree in biology from Oakland University. She attended the University of Detroit Mercy where she received a Master’s Degree in Physician Assistant studies.
While attending college she was employed at St. Joseph Hospital in the pathology department assisting with autopsies.
“I was very interested in anatomy, the human body and helping people,” she said. “The two biggest reasons I was interested in being a PA, was I loved how the PA worked as a team with the doctors and could spend more time with the patients since the doctors were sometimes busy.”
Taylor has been a physician assistant for 15 years and started out working in the ER at McLaren, Flint.
“Once you see a patient in ER and discharge them you don’t follow up with them,” she said. “I wanted to know if they got better and are they OK. I cared that much. So that’s when I decided family medicine was something that I would be more interested in. Following the family, being a part of the families.”
She has lived in Ortonville for six years.

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