— from Orcas Family Health Center —
David Shinstrom, M.D. and the staff of Orcas Family Health Center are excited to announce that Lauren Sonderegger, M.D will be joining their practice as a locum physician for the month of September. Lauren is originally from wacky Berkeley, CA. She studied history as an undergraduate at Yale College.
After two years of travel and work in Latin America, she attended medical school in San Francisco, and recently completed residency at Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine in Seattle. Her medical interests include women’s health, fitness and nutrition, addiction medicine, and the resourcefulness inherent to the practice medicine in a small town on an island.
She enjoys trail running, enjoying favorite local foods, cycling, open water swimming, hiking–and is excited to learn about Orcas Island from those who know it best, you! She says “It will be a pleasure and an honor to care for Dr Shinstrom’s patients in his absence.” Patients can call 360-376-7778 for an appointment.
What’s a “locum physician”? And why is Berkeley “wacky”? It was in the sixties and seventies, giving us Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Front, but that’s history, as they say.
“In locum tenens” is Latin, meaning “to hold the place of or to substitute for.” Physicians commonly serve “in locum tenens” for others who are on vacation or unable to perform their regular duties for a short period so that patient care continues uninterrupted.