Today we’d like to introduce you to Devan Doherty.
Devan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Honestly as a Public Relations grad from the University of Georgia, with a minor in Sociology, I never expected to be working in the medical field. Better yet, I never thought I’d be working with more than half of my immediate family in a private practice AND with my dad, Dr. Dennis C. Doherty as my boss.
I can genuinely say that I love Public Relations; I interned during summers while in college and always give a shout out to David Meerman Scott, my favorite author in the game, for his book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” amongst other things. Then again, you never know where life is going to take you!
I ended up where I am today after my dad was diagnosed with stage IV cancer of the head and neck – deemed terminal – and told by his own colleagues that he only had a 1% chance to live. Naturally, he had to prove them wrong but after going through so much my family needed the help regarding staff so when I graduated I didn’t blink an eye – nor apply for any form of PR type job – but dove in head first to the healthcare world.
Every day I continue to learn something new but the reward I get from seeing people smile and say they finally have hope again also makes everything worth it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Re-establishing presence in a new location is always a bit of a challenge when you first start up so I wouldn’t say all has been smooth sailing but this is to be expected in any similar circumstance. Also, we’re lucky that our patients are so great and leave us such amazing reviews on sites like Google and Facebook that we actually have 5/5 stars.
With the treatment Right Relief Health provides we don’t do any major advertising either and we get business more from word of mouth than anything else so it takes time. The way I see it anyways is like the saying, “Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy”.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Right Relief Health – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Right Relief is located in the heart of Athens, or us alumni call it -The Classic City – in a historic building that makes you feel like you’re at home right when you walk in. If you’re familiar with the area at all, specifically we’re located on the corner of Milledge Ave and Broad Street. In comparison to other medical offices.
Right Relief has always been different in the way our office make patients feel. We want everyone who walks through the front door to feel comfortable and the atmosphere to be welcoming as opposed to cold and unfriendly. This not only applies to the environment but even to the fact that Dr. Doherty has every patient call him by his first name, Dennis.
Since transitioning practice locations, Right Relief has made a concerted decision to focus primarily on substance use disorder, utilizing MAT or Medication-Assisted Treatment (unless of course, the patient desires to go the abstinence-based route which of course is fine too). In English, this means that FDA-approved medicines like Suboxone, Campral and more are used to help people treat the disease of addiction whether or not it’s for that of alcohol, heroin, opioids, newer problematic agents like Kratom (mitragyna speciosa) and more.
As the Clinical Coordinator of the practice, in general, I’m in charge of overseeing the flow of patients, communicating directly with Dennis and making sure he’s getting into patient rooms, all necessary forms and paperwork are readily available and staff members are following general procedure, etc.
Without a doubt, I believe the Right Relief sets the standard of care for any other offices or providers certified to prescribed Buprenorphine, as Dr. Doherty is, or practicing Medication Assisted Treatment. We ensure that every person knows that we want to get to know him or her and that they are not just a number. After all, how can one completely go about understanding an individual with a substance use disorder if underlying issues are not discussed and a real rapport involving trust isn’t established, to begin with?
I am beyond proud to be a part of a practice that has astounding retention rates, has actually established parity in such a stigmatized field of medicine when you have patients telling you that coming to your office is something they look forward to every month and to see lives changes as patients start treatment stating they are at rock bottom yet then progress over a matter of months to the point in which the person has a job, is acquiring insurance, attitude and personality is completely different during each visit and more.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future I’m looking forward to expanding our model of care and treatment, letting other people who suffer from substance use disorders know that they have more options than they might think. There’s no need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on inpatient rehabilitation facilities nor should you have to stand in line for your daily dosing of medicine and have your daily schedule be interrupted because your medical problem is categorized in a different way than other medical issues.
In the years to come Right Relief plans to first open its 2nd office in Greenville, SC and go from there. We truly do hope to set the gold standard of care so that others will follow our lead.
Contact Info:
- Address: 125 S Milledge Ave, Ste A, Athens GA 30605
- Website: www.rightreliefhealth.com
- Phone: (706) 991-9865
- Email: devan@rightreliefservices.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RightReliefHealth/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/YourRightRelief
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/right-relief-health-athens
- Other: https://pcssnow.org/clinical-coaching/coaches/?location=georgia
Image Credit:
The Red & Black; Blume Photography
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