By Mary Alice Murphy

At a recent Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting, Chief Executive Officer Robert Whitaker briefly mentioned that the hospital planned to open two new clinics.

During an interview on July 8, 2025, Whitaker confirmed the planned clinics. "The official opening of an outpatient behavioral health clinic, with Dr. Teresa Arizaga as the physician, will take place on July 14, 2025. She will have a Monday through Friday outpatient clinic seeing patients there. We have no plants for inpatient behavioral health services at all."

He emphasized: "There are things that we do that only we can do, and then there are things that we do that other people can also do. It's important to me to focus on the things that only we can do. That's where we start off as our core." He cited those that the hospital can do, as including the emergency room, the operating room, labor and delivery, the ICU (intensive care unit), the cancer center. "And we want to do those really well. Every service we provide, there has to be a physician or practitioner associated with it or we just can't do it."

"Because of the latter, it is really critical that we recruit and retain highly competent, qualified, great physicians and practitioners," Whitaker continued. "I am so happy that we could keep Dr. Arizaga in practice and help her with her clinical career, which is what she wants to do."

When asked where the behavioral health clinic will be located, he said it would be about a quarter of Pod 3, which was the former behavioral health unit at GRMC. Half of the area has been renovated as an orthopedic clinic for Dr. Roberto Carreon. "Our cardiology office for stress tests and echocardiograms takes up half of the other half, as the clinic across the street doesn't have room for all the equipment. So the remaining half of the half, therefore the quarter, will be where Dr. Arizaga will meet with outpatients. It's kind of on the east side of the east pod.The area has a small waiting room and an office for her. We already have staff for her, and we're just kind of tidying things up."

He noted that the first couple of days after the opening would be for training her and the staff to get them familiar with the electronic health records system at the hospital.

Whitaker noted the other clinic that has been approved by the board is a urology clinic. He said the individual hired for the clinic is Dr. Stan Swierzewski. He has accepted the offer and is working on obtaining his New Mexico medical license through the New Mexico Medical Board.

[Author's Note: The NM Legislature this year considered a bill that would allow New Mexico participation in multi-state medical licensing compacts, but it did not pass. The compacts would allow physicians that are licensed in other states and participate in the compacts to come to practice in New Mexico without having to go through the individual licensing now required in the state.]

Whitaker said they anticipated opening the urology clinic in the fall. "It's really dependent on the Medical Board and the licensing and how long that takes. We are anticipating putting the clinic across 32nd Street along with the surgical and rural health clinics."

Whitaker said the hospital has seen the need for a urologist. "If there's a way for Gila Regional to recruit physicians for specialities, we will do it. Sometimes it takes time." He said a second urologist was coming to the hospital to visit and interview, with the potential of also practicing in the clinic.

An additional article will address other items reviewed and approved at the Board meeting on July 2, 2025.