Resignation of 3 physicians sparks great concern in small Iowa community

Residents of Akron, Iowa, are fighting to keep three local family medicine physicians from Akron (Iowa) Mercy Medical Clinic in business, according to a report from the Sioux City Journal.

The physicians submitted their resignations March 14 to Mercy Medical Center Sioux City (Iowa), the facility that leases the clinic, according to the report. They plan to work through the end of their contracts, which expire on June 30.

However, when news of the resignations hit the town of 1,464, petitions began to circulate at local businesses, as well as online, according to the report. The online petition currently has more than 200 signatures. It calls for Mercy and Akron Health Care, the entity that owns the clinic, to terminate the clinic building lease and cede control. "That will enable the Akron clinic to return to local control so we can keep the doctors we know and love in our community," the petition reads.

Two of the three physicians — Cynthia Wolff, MD, and David Wolff, MD — opened the clinic in 1991, and the third physician Allison Schoenfelder, MD, joined the practice in 2006, according to the report.

A Mercy spokesman told the Sioux City Journal the medical center plans to continue to operate a clinic in Akron and staff it with highly qualified physicians.

Read the full report here.

 

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