Indian Lake welcomes new doctor

INDIAN LAKE — Having been born in Colorado, and raised in the backyard of the Catskills, Dr. Ryan Donnelly is very comfortable making a new home in the Adirondacks. Donnelly, who started at the Indian Lake Health Center on July 21, will be welcomed at an open house, where doctors Daniel Way and Harriet Busch will be honored on their retirement. The open house reception will be held on Monday, Aug. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Mary's Parish Hall in Indian Lake. The entire town of Indian Lake has been invited to the open house. Donnelly earned his DO from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathy and performed his internship and residency at the Wright Center, Scranton, Pennsylvania. He said the DO and MD are essentially the same, but a doctor of osteopathy, "has additional training using his hands." "Our approach to the patient is different," Donnelly said. Osteopathy is a system of medical care that promotes the body's innate ability to heal itself. Donnelly is interested in physical fitness, having engaged in hiking, biking, running and rock climbing while growing up in a rural portion of Orange County. He even planned to participate in an Iron Man competition in Lake Placid over the weekend. He said he feels at home in the Adirondacks and can see himself remaining in Indian Lake for the foreseeable future. "I am looking forward to taking over for Dr. Way, doing outpatient medicine in a small town. Too often doctors are just a cog in a bigger health system," Donnelly said. "I had influential mentors who told me how rewarding rural medicine is." Donnelly said he found Indian Lake to be an immediate match, and, upon interviewing, he decided it would be home. He said the winters should not be a problem for him. "I like seasons, and I enjoy snow skiing and snow shoeing. I think I'm going to enjoy the area," he said. Donnelly, who will be spending some of his time in the West Mountain Health Services in Queensbury, said he spent much of his first day getting used to the Hudson Headwaters Health Network computer system. Donnelly said he has gotten to know Way over the better part of a year through the interview process and with Way giving him a copy of one of his books. Way has spent over 40 years in family practice in Indian Lake. He was affiliated with many hospitals, including Glens Falls Hospital, Nathan Littauer Hospital and cooperated with other physicians in medical groups including Hudson Headwaters Health Network. Way is the author of "All in a Day's Work: Scenes and Stories from an Adirondack Medical Practice," which was published in 2004, and "Never a Dull Moment: A Tapestry of Scenes & Stories from an Adirondack Medical Practice." Bush was family medicine doctor who practiced in Queensbury has practiced medicine for 40 years, and was affiliated with Glens Falls Hospital.

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Indian Lake welcomes new doctor

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