Pennsylvania native Amanda Hepler knew from a young age that she would become a doctor.
“Pretty much from when I was very little, I wanted to be a doctor,” says Hepler, whose mother was a radiology technologist often the go-to person for medical questions.
At Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Hepler studied molecular biology. Medical school at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia followed. Her residency in family medicine was at Latrobe Family Medicine Residency, also in Pennsylvania.
When it came time to start work, Dr. Hepler looked for a rural practice and found it at Rangeley Family Medicine in a community of 1,200 in Maine. There for four years, Dr. Hepler was the lone physician, caring for all ages, doing home visits and addressing emergencies as they arose.
From Maine, Dr. Hepler went to work at Cheshire Medical Center, part of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, in New Hampshire. The role meant working in a multi-physician practice, overseeing nurse practitioners and physician assistants, caring for patients in a skilled nursing facility and working to meet quality goals as part of an Accountable Care Organization. It lacked one thing, however: rural roots.
It’s Dr. Hepler’s passion to care for whole families.
“I always pictured myself working in a rural area,” Dr. Hepler said. “Family medicine is called family medicine because you’re supposed to be taking care of a whole family. You can learn a lot more about a person from first-hand experience with a family. You have a true family history.”
Dr. Hepler is now rediscovering her passion for rural medicine as the latest member of the Chelsea Health Center team.
The rural clinic is part of Gifford Health Care and was recently named a Federally Qualified Health Center by the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“It just felt right,” says Dr. Hepler of joining the Chelsea team, which includes physician assistant and Chelsea native Rebecca Savidge and physician assistant Starr Strong, a veteran Chelsea caregiver who will soon retire.
Dr. Hepler is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and a member of the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
A kind and compassionate caregiver who quickly creates a relaxing environment, Dr. Hepler works hard to listen to patients, get to know them and help them make the best decisions to improve their health. She has special clinical interests in caring for whole families, women’s health, diabetes management and caring for children.
Dr. Hepler is currently living in Randolph while she searches for a home for her and her dog, Cosmo, closer to Chelsea. (She notes patients have already been helpful and welcoming as they call with leads on rentals.) In her free time she enjoys snowshoeing and hiking with her dog, kayaking, and flower and vegetable gardening.
Dr. Hepler is now seeing new patients. Call her at the Chelsea Health Center at (802) 685-4400.
