94-01-28 Expanded medical services in Orange RELEASE ON RECEIPT Contact: Tom Doran YEDITORS: YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND AND/OR STAFF THE GRAND OPENING ON SATURDAY, FEB. 5. WE WOULD APPRECIATE AN ADVANCE ON IT IN YOUR NEWS COVERAGE. DETAILS ARE IN THE ENCLOSED FLYER." ORANGE, Va., Jan. 28 -- Area health care resources will be strengthened this week as a 15-year-old local medical practice holds a grand opening of an expanded facility with more services, physicians and equipment, and a new name: University Physicians. Formerly known as University Medical Associates, the group will continue to provide primary care with a recently expanded general internal medicine staff of five physicians who have cared for local families for periods ranging up to 17 years. They are John T. Philbrick, Harold E. Young Jr., Julia E. Connelly, Eugene C. Corbett Jr. and Michael P. Steinberg. Primary care services for women and children will also be provided with the addition of two obstetrics and gynecology physicians and two pediatricians, according to medical director Dr. John Philbrick, a member of the practice since 1979. Philbrick said the expanded and modernized facility has 13 examining rooms (nearly three times the number of the old building), a laboratory where test results can be determined on the site, a mammography unit and an X-Ray machine. It also has a bright, spacious new waiting room and more efficiently organized and equipped staff offices. "We're delighted to have the professional and physical resources to ensure that we can fulfill our whole purpose here, to provide high quality primary health care in Orange for the entire family," said Philbrick. "We came here originally to fill local needs that couldn't be met by the physicians available, and our objective -- then as now -- was to serve as primary care doctors for the community. "Over the years we've become steadily busier. We've had to refer patients elsewhere at times, and felt the need to have primary care physicians specializing in pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology here to serve the special needs of some patients. "This is a local practice although it is an activity of the University of Virginia and our physicians are members of the U.Va. School of Medicine faculty," said Philbrick, an associate professor of internal medicine. "Our ability to call on the resources of the University when our patients need them is a great asset, but our focus is local." One physician who recently joined the practice has spent most of his professional life in Orange. Dr. Harold Young, a seventh generation local native, began a private practice here in 1977 after graduating from the U.Va. School of Medicine and spending his first year of medical residency at the University. "I'm excited about what all of this means for the people of the community and for the generations to come," said Young. "For the first time, the community has mammography and X-Ray units that are in place here and available full time. "A lot of women in Orange have never had a mammogram simply because they had to travel to other communities or meet the timetable for a mobile unit. People have had to travel elsewhere to get X-Rays and then wait for days for the results. Now they will be examined here and get next-day readings of the results." Young said he also likes the idea that his patients will have other physicians available to them when he's not available, including nights and weekends, without sacrificing the close relationship they have with him as their family doctor. Work on expanding and modernizing the University Physicians building started last July after six months of planning that involved physicians, nurses and other staff members as well as professional architects and designers. ### Charlotte A. Buttner, Program Support Technician, Health Sciences Center News Office, McKim Hall Room 3116, #429, Charlottesville, Va. 22908, 804-924-5679, cab2j@virginia.edu [Submitted by: unknown (cab2j@dmt03.mcc.virginia.edu) 28 Jan 94 12:18:04 EST]