Getting To Know Our Providers - Dr. Christopher Jones

Get to know Dr. Christopher Jones, an OBGYN at Memorial Hospital!
Getting To Know Our Providers - Dr. Christopher Jones
Featured Speaker:
Christopher Jones, MD, FACOG
Christopher Jones, MD, FACOG, is a Board Certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist with Memorial Medical Clinic Locust Street & Colchester. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria.
Transcription:
Getting To Know Our Providers - Dr. Christopher Jones

Dr. Christopher Jones: Hi, my name is Christopher Jones. I'm an OB-GYN. I work for Memorial Hospital in Carthridge, Illinois. I went to the University of Illinois Medical School, then I did my OB-GYN training in Tucson, Arizona at the University of Arizona. And then, I started to work for Memorial Hospital here in Carthridge, Illinois in January of '05. And I've been here ever since.

You make your decisions in medical school as far as your career choice based on eight-week clerkships. And when I did my clerkship in OB-GYN, I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to do surgery, but also not only did you do surgery, you got to follow up with the patient and you get to develop relationships over the long-term with patients, for instance. And it's not just surgery, so you can also do the OB part of it. I've recently delivered the fourth baby to a couple of my patients. So obviously, I've had quite a number of years to get to know them and develop relationships with them and their family. So, that's really a nice aspect of the specialty.

I think probably the fact that I was born here at this hospital, I grew up in the area, so that kind of naturally led me into seeking a position here and that was almost 20 years ago now. You know, I think after I've done this for as long as I have, the most important thing that I've found and taken care of patients is trust. I think that's the foundation of a healing and care-taking relationship between a doctor and a patient is the fact that the doctor is trusted by the patient. And then once you get beyond that hurdle, then I think anything is possible. But if the patient doesn't trust the doctor, then I think that nothing is possible.

So, I think that establishing trust is my primary goal with every patient. And then, at least obstetrically, I try to follow the dictum that pregnancy is a physiologic process and not necessarily a pathologic process. So, we try to treat the pregnant patient as a healthy patient and we're just guiding her along through a healthy pregnancy, always keeping an eye out for the times when a pregnancy does become pathological.

So, my mantra in taking care of pregnant patients is that I'm just there for if anything goes wrong. But otherwise, most pregnancies are physiologic and they're healthy. So, I'm just here, just kind of like a pilot, 10,000 hours of boredom, and one minute of sheer terror. That's what I'm there for, is the sheer terror.

I've got a 13-year-old daughter, so a lot of my time is spent enjoying life with her. I do do some fishing and I run occasionally and I like to go see live music. So, I try to keep busy, but work surely keeps me mostly busy. I actually live in quincy at this point, and that's 45 minutes away. So, I come up to Carthage every day to work, and I do that because I like the community here and the hospital is really a good hospital dedicated to their mission of taking care of patients in Hancock County.

It truly is a good place to work. And the employees here are truly, you know, it's cliche, but they truly are a family. And by fostering that environment, the hospital creates a unique opportunity to be able to take care of patients locally and in the community.