Dr. Hekimoglu joins medical community

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON News Editor for the Southern Standard

Dr. Cetin Hekimoglu has recently opened an internal medicine practice at 140 Vo-Tech Drive near River Park. Hekimoglu is pictured here with employee Shondee Foster. They can be reached at 474-8888.

McMinnville has a new physician, internist Cetin Hekimoglu, M.D., who has recently opened a practice located at 140 Vo-Tech Drive, Suite 3. Hekimoglu?s office is in the medical center next to River Park Hospital.

Born in Turkey, Hekimoglu attended medical school in Istanbul, then continued with his post-graduate work in Milwaukee at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Hekimoglu says he came to the U.S. because one of his uncles, who also attended school in Wisconsin, is a transplant surgeon there.

?That?s the main reason I came to Wisconsin,? Hekimoglu said.

But a friendship with a fellow physician is what led him to McMinnville.

?Dr. Sadik Yesil and I are longtime friends,? Hekimoglu said. ?He used to practice at the same hospital, the same complex, that I used to work at in Wisconsin. He came down here after his neurology training. Through him I learned there is a big need for internal medicine physicians in this area, so I decided to come down here and found a nice, clean, green, beautiful little town, so I thought it would be a great place to start a practice.?

Hekimoglu says he went into medicine because of his family?s involvement.

?My parents, my uncle, my grandfather, there are a lot of physicians in the family,? Hekimoglu said. ?So I went into it mainly because of that, but I also like medicine. It?s one of the things I always wanted to do.?

He says he chose internal medicine for a simple reason, he gets a chance to know his patients because many of them have chronic conditions that requires them to see him regularly.

?With internal medicine you develop a little bit more of a long term relationship with your individual patients,? Hekimoglu said, ?than you do in other specialties where you may see them just once.?

As an internist, Hekimoglu can handle most any medical condition, but he particularly deals with heart and lung problems, diabetes, thyroid and endocrine problems, along with a number of other illnesses.

Dr. Hekimoglu currently has one employee, Shondee Foster, but is already seeing patients, and is working on getting his business office set up. He will eventually will be taking all types of insurance.

?Everyone is welcome,? he said.

For more information, or to make an appointment, contact Dr. Hekimoglu at 474-8888.