Amberwell Health welcomes long-time Atchison primary care physician John Growney, MD, and son James Growney, PA-C, to the Amberwell Primary Care team effective January 1, 2021. Both will continue to provide patient care at the clinic located at 801 Atchison Street in Atchison, which will be acquired by Amberwell Health effective January 1, 2021.
The clinic will undergo some changes as it becomes an additional Amberwell location of care. Hours will be expanded to five days a week and the clinic will be renamed to Amberwell Eighth Street Clinic. To help the clinic prepare to accept new patients, the facility will be modified, and an additional provider and support staff member are expected to be added shortly after January 1 to expand appointment availability.
The transition will help ensure continuity of care for patients who have been with Dr. Growney for many years. Dr. Growney has focused on providing same-day appointments and Amberwell Primary Care providers share that commitment to same-day or next-day access to care. Patients will be able to continue seeing Dr. Growney or James Growney, PA-C, at the same clinic location and will have access to additional resources of Amberwell Health.
Dr. Growney has been caring for Atchison area families since he returned from Vietnam in 1966. His first office was with Dr. Spencer Fast at 811 Santa Fe Street in Atchison, where he practiced until the building caught fire on February 21, 1973. Dr Growney did not want to inconvenience patients, so he continued appointments the following day at the clinic building of Dr. Ira Morrison, on the corner of Eighth and Atchison Street. Dr. Growney has been practicing in the same building ever since and purchased the building from Dr. Morrison when he retired in the late 1970s.
In addition to providing 54 years of healthcare for the Atchison community, Dr. Growney has inspired several of his eight children to enter the medical field. His son Dr. Daniel Growney is a surgeon in Nebraska and son Dr. Michael Growney is an OB/Gyn physician in Colorado. James Growney, PA-C, has served as physician assistant alongside his father since 2007. Dr. Growney’s grandchildren have also pursued a variety of medical interests, including nursing, physician assistant training, biomedical engineering, and pharmacy studies.
Dr. Growney received his board certification for the newly established geriatric medicine specialty in 1990. He provided obstetrics care until 2000, delivering 1,000 babies in the Atchison area. Dr. Growney is a charter member of American Academy of Family Physicians and served as a diplomat of the American Board of Family Medicine until 2019.
Both Dr. Growney and James Growney, PA-C have served as coroners and public health officers for Atchison County. James also helped bring one of the first electronic medical record systems to Atchison in 2008 and has been an advocate for addiction medicine, becoming one of the first Physician Assistants in northeast Kansas to be approved for both oral and injectable treatment for addiction.
Dr. Growney and his wife Gertrude reared their eight children in Atchison, where they attended Maur Hill and Mount Saint Scholastica. Dr. Growney is a master certified scuba driver and has dived all over the world, his favorite location being South Caicos Island. Dr. Growney has 21 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren, with two more on the way.
Amberwell Health is honored to continue a legacy of patient-centered care with Dr. Growney and James Growney, PA-C.
