Welcome to Drs. Carl and Hillary Seger, two recent additions to South Peninsula Hospital. The community is invited to meet the Segers and other new SPH providers at a Homer Chamber of Commerce mixer in January.
“Dr. Carl Seger is filling a much-needed position in the ER,” said Derotha Ferraro, hospital spokesperson. “The recent departure of both Matt Wise, M.D., and Patrick Brady, M.D., both who took ER call, has put an added scheduling burden on the remaining doctors over the last year.”
Working out of the hospital-owned Homer Medical Center, Dr. Hillary Seger is offering a first-time health service for Homer: local obstetrics and gynecology women’s care.
“This is a nice expansion of Homer Medical Center services to provide this specialized women’s care,” said Ferraro. “This level of care is a perfect complement to the other women’s healthcare providers at HMC.”
Raised in Kasilof and a graduate of Skyview High School, Hillary (Moore) Seger attended the University of Washington School of Medicine, and completed an internship and residency at the University of Utah. She is board-certified with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Carl Seger, who grew up in a small town in northern Wyoming, attended the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and did his residency at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is board-certified in emergency medicine.
After completing their residencies in Salt Lake and entering into private practice, the Segers looked to Alaska as a place to start a family.
“We were not convinced that we wanted to raise a family in a city,” said Dr. Hillary Seger, adding that their schedules also had become increasingly demanding. “We wanted something different for our family.”
They narrowed their search to Alaska “because we felt like family support with a new baby would be helpful,” she said.
The couple each interviewed at Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna and at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage and, in June 2011, moved to Soldotna. Their son, Fritz, was born that August. Last year, the desire to find a part-time practice that fit better with their family life led the Segers to consider fine-tuning their Alaska location.
“We had been coming to Homer in the summers and I commercial fished for 15 years with a person from Homer, so I was familiar with the area,” said Seger.
Since returning to Alaska, she and her husband also had brought visitors to the southern peninsula, eager to share the area with others.
“I didn’t actually find out Homer was trying to recruit an OB/GYN until after we got to Soldotna,” said Seger. “So, we contacted South Peninsula Hospital early last year. … They hired both of us, and it’s great.”
The Seger family moved to Homer the beginning of October and began practicing in mid-October. Carl Seger works in the SPH emergency room on Mondays and Thursdays; Hillary Seger has a Tuesday-Thursday schedule. That gives the family time together and time for the Segers to become involved in the community.
“We’re kind of modifying what we’ve done in other places. We used to do road-biking, but now we have fat tires for riding in the snow and on the beach,” said Seger, who also gets out with Homer Women’s Nordic as her time allows.
“We are just thrilled, but also fascinated with the community of Homer. For even a much bigger town, there’s so much going on,” she said.
South Peninsula Hospital also is happy to have the Segers in the area.
“This has been a goal of the hospital and the community for many years, to have a Homer-based OB-GYN,” said Ferraro. “This was identified in our community heath needs assessment and a goal of the hospital’s strategic plan. We are all excited about this new permanent practice for the community.”
Dr. Hillary Seger is planning a community forum on women’s health in the new year. Appointments with her can be made by calling the clinic at 235-8586. She also performs routine and advanced gynecological surgical procedures at the hospital.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.
jackinsky@homernews.com.
