‘Neighbors helping neighbors’
UPHS-Negaunee Medical Associates currently accepting new patients
NEGAUNEE — Many people driving the busy U.S. 41 corridor in the central part of Marquette County might not notice the sign in front of a building located between Teal Lake Avenue and Baldwin Avenue in Negaunee.
The sign reads “UP Health System: Negaunee Medical Associates” and the practice is one of great camaraderie and teamwork. The office offers a convenient choice for folks in the central and western part of the county staffed by members of the community who strive to be good neighbors.
Take Julie Kab, for example.
“I’m a local. I grew up in west Ishpeming,” said Physician Assistant Kab, MMS, PA-C, who now works at Negaunee Medical. She moved away after graduating from Michigan Tech University to go to physician assistant school, then lived in the Chicago area for several years.
“But then I moved home, 12 years ago. And I am here to stay,” Kab said. “It’s unique. I am seeing people I grew up with. I think people like seeing care providers who are here and who will be here with no intention to leave.”
Dr. Joel Dank of Negaunee Medical has put down roots in the west end community himself. Born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Dank spent most of his youth in Iron Mountain and is a graduate of Iron Mountain High School.
After attending Northern Michigan University, Dank went to medical school at Michigan State University, then did his residency in Marquette County.
“I left for a couple of years,” Dank said. “And that made me feel this is the only place I could be. The ‘big city’ — Minneapolis and Lansing — wasn’t for me. I want to go bird hunting. I want to be able to mountain bike and to hike and have my family do those things with me.”
Both Kab and Dank have interesting stories about how they entered the medical field.
“It’s a long story,” Kab said with a smile. “When I was in high school, I didn’t want to take biology because the sight of blood made me sick. I was planning to go to law school. Then I took an advanced biology class. Pat Miljour was the teacher and that class got me excited about science. That amazing teacher changed my life. It was then, I decided I wanted to go into the medical field.”
For Dank, it was being a patient that steered him toward medicine.
“I was in the hospital at age 12 with post-strep issues. It was borderline rheumatic fever. That got me interested in medicine. I had always liked the sciences. It was my favorite stuff in school.
“I was thinking of chemical engineering,” Dank said. “But there are no people in that and I wanted to talk to people. There was no epiphany, I just decided I wanted to go into medicine.”
Dank and Kab believe their similar approaches are key to Negaunee Medical running so well.
“We’ve dialed it in well. We collaborate on things that are more complicated,” Dank said.
Kab added: “We have a similar approach. We have a commonsense approach and we keep up to date on evidence-based medicine.”
That team approach extends to others who work at Negaunee Medical, including Allan Olson, D.O., who sees osteopathic cases; and nursing and support staff including Teresa, Jennifer, Jaime and Dawn.
Dank said the practice is accepting new patients, with Kab adding: “We treat both chronic and acute problems.”
“Full spectrum, from pre-cradle to the grave,” Dank said.
“Or you could say beginning of life to end of life,” Kab said.
The office, which is open Monday through Friday, offers lab draws as well.
With Kab having 14 years as a physician assistant and Dank at almost 13 years, counting his residency, Negaunee Medical offers providers who are young but experienced.
“We like being where we are,” Kab said. “We work in this area. We live in this area. And we’re active in the community. We’re neighbors helping neighbors.”
If you’d like to make an appointment at UP Health System-Negaunee Medical, this office can be reached at 906-475-6312.
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