LITTLE MOUNTAIN — Beginning today Dr. Michelle Archer will be taking over the Little Mountain Health Center where she thinks she will be a great fit.

Dr. John Thompson will be staying on for a couple of weeks to assist with the transition.

CEO Bruce Baldwin said Newberry County Memorial Hospital is looking to grow the practice and Archer believes she will be able to assist on that front by expanding their offerings to include more pediatrics, women’s health and sports medicine.

She said she also enjoys performing dermatology procedures, something the practice is currently not doing a whole lot of.

“We love being in this community,” Archer said, who’s lived in Chapin with her husband since 1999.

For the past year the hospital had been reviewing several candidates but ultimately chose Archer because of her positive reputation with patients, her excellent quality of care and the fact she is from the area.

“She is very personal, very skilled and very hard-working,” Baldwin said. “She is committed to making this practice grow.”

Many people struggle with finding their life’s calling but Archer said she can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to become a doctor.

Archer majored in biology at Presbyterian College, not unusual for students going the pre-med route, but also minored in psychology knowing it would be a future asset.

“You can never underestimate how your psychological well-being can affect your health overall,” she said.

Archer saw the myriad of specializations out there for doctors and wasn’t quite sure she wanted to narrow her sights to one particular area.

“That’s why I ended up going into family medicine because I enjoy doing a little of everything,” she said. “You never know what’s going to come in the door and that’s to me so much better than seeing an eye all day long.”

She attended the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, an area with which she was familiar from attending Carolina football games growing up.

“I love the Columbia area,” she said.

After graduating she spent at a practice which ultimately closed but was picked up by University Primary Care to instruct med students, residents and nurse practitioners.

In 2007 Archer opened her own practice in Chapin but didn’t relish the reality of running a business on top of practicing medicine.

“That was really tough,” she said.

That’s another reason she said she’s really looking forward to working in NCMH system – the patient financial services department can handle all matters insurance while she gets to focus on what she love – treating patients.

“I do like to spoil my patients and I like the aspect of a small, family practice,” she said.

Archer expects quite a few of the patients she saw in Chapin and the last two years in Aiken will follow her to Little Mountain which she said is great because of the level of familiarity and knowledge of family history.

Archer said having a strong relationship with a patient helps her in deciding what direction is best for the patient concerning treatment and simply fosters trust.

“If there is no trust, no one’s going to listen to you,” she said.

The Archers — from the left — Griffin, Rocky, Michelle and Grayson.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_archer.jpgThe Archers — from the left — Griffin, Rocky, Michelle and Grayson. Carson Lambert | The Newberry Observer

By Carson Lambert

clambert@civitasmedia.com

Reach Carson Lambert at 803-276-0625, ext. 1868, or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.