Trusting QMG Through the Decades: Kevin’s Story

For Kevin R., Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) is more than just a health­care provider — it has been a trust­ed part­ner through­out some of the most piv­otal moments of his life.

A Fam­i­ly Lega­cy of Care

Kevin’s con­nec­tion to QMG began in child­hood when he was cared for by Dr. Wal­ter Whitak­er, a pedi­a­tri­cian and one of QMG’s found­ing physi­cians. Dr. Whitak­er helped estab­lish the Quin­cy Clin­ic — lat­er known as Quin­cy Physi­cians & Sur­geons Clin­ic (QP&S) and even­tu­al­ly QMG — and served patients from its found­ing in 1937 until his retire­ment in 1986.

Kevin’s ear­ly child­hood took a dra­mat­ic turn at just two years old when he near­ly drowned at Spring Lake in Quin­cy. Though he pulled through, many didn’t think he would sur­vive. Through it all, Dr. Whitak­er was there for him and his family. 

“After the acci­dent, I stopped talk­ing and faced a lot of chal­lenges. Some doc­tors thought I had neu­ro­log­i­cal issues that would stay with me,” Kevin said. ​“But Dr. Whitak­er nev­er gave up on me.”

That ear­ly expe­ri­ence built a foun­da­tion of trust that car­ried through the rest of Kevin’s life. ​“Over the years, I’ve had great expe­ri­ences at QMG, whether it was ortho­pe­dics, cataract surgery, or carpal tun­nel surgery. If I need med­ical care, I turn to QMG because I trust them,” he said.

Find­ing Trust­ed Providers Along the Way

As Kevin grew old­er, his health­care needs evolved. One of the things Kevin val­ues most about QMG is the last­ing rela­tion­ships he’s built with his physi­cians. After tran­si­tion­ing from pedi­atric care under Dr. Whitak­er, he found trust­ed providers in Rick Noble, MD (now QMG’s Chief Med­ical Offi­cer), Matthew Brink, MD (Fam­i­ly Prac­tice), Kevin Hilton, MD (Ortho­pe­dics), Eric Sieck, MD (Oph­thal­mol­o­gy), and Den­nis Ozment, MD (Rheuma­tol­ogy).

“When­ev­er I need care, I go to QMG. Every expe­ri­ence I’ve had with QMG has been pos­i­tive. When peo­ple sug­gest going out of town for care, I tell them, ​‘No thanks,’” he said.

Build­ing Life­long Relationships

For many years, Kevin has had ongo­ing ortho­pe­dic health con­cerns, start­ing with knee surgery at 15, fol­lowed by an acci­dent at 21 when he fell 18 feet off a lad­der onto con­crete. That start­ed a long line of care. 

“I’ve had three back surg­eries, dealt with arthri­tis, and had knee surgery,” Kevin shared. ​“I once had arthro­scop­ic surgery else­where, but I didn’t get the fol­low-up care I need­ed, which made recov­ery dif­fi­cult. That’s one of the rea­sons I trust QMG — they always fol­low through.”

In recent years, Dr. Hilton has been instru­men­tal in man­ag­ing Kevin’s ortho­pe­dic concerns.

“Dr. Hilton has been great. I have a com­pli­cat­ed his­to­ry — joint pain, mul­ti­ple back surg­eries — and he takes a care­ful, mea­sured approach. He doesn’t rush into surgery, which I appre­ci­ate,” Kevin said. ​“Once when I called, I left him a mes­sage on a Fri­day. He called me on Sun­day for a 30-minute con­ver­sa­tion about my con­cerns. That kind of ded­i­ca­tion means a lot.”

Stay­ing Local 

Over the years, Kevin has seen oth­ers seek­ing spe­cial­ized care out­side Quin­cy, how­ev­er, he firm­ly believes in the qual­i­ty of care avail­able at QMG.

“Peo­ple assume they have to trav­el for care, but I know folks from out of town who are actu­al­ly com­ing to Quin­cy for treat­ment,” he said. ​“I wouldn’t want to go any­where else.”

His wife has also expe­ri­enced QMG’s lev­el of care first­hand. When she suf­fered a foot injury, she vis­it­ed QMG’s Ortho Now clin­ic and received quick, effec­tive treat­ment from QMG Podi­a­trist Shwe­tal Patel, DPM.

“She was in pain, walked in, got eval­u­at­ed, and left with a treat­ment plan. She saw Dr. Patel, and every­thing worked out great,” he said.

A Com­mit­ment to Com­mu­ni­ty and Trust

Reflect­ing on his life­long rela­tion­ship with QMG, Kevin is grate­ful for the con­sis­ten­cy, com­pas­sion, and exper­tise he has received over the years.

“It’s reas­sur­ing to know I can pick up the phone and get my ques­tions answered, no mat­ter which doc­tor I’m see­ing,” he said.

For Kevin, QMG isn’t just about med­ical care — it’s about trust, rela­tion­ships, and the con­fi­dence that his doc­tors will always be there when he needs them.

“I’ve been with QMG for so many years, and I trust them com­plete­ly,” he said.