Darla Ellingson/Daily Journal: Dr. Erin Peterson, a graduate of Ashby High School, is now treating patients at the Ashby Clinic, part of Lake Region Healthcare. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Peterson at home at Ashby Clinic [UPDATED]

Published 11:32am Tuesday, October 30, 2012 Updated 11:32am Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Dr. Erin Peterson has fond memories of growing up in rural Ashby.

After completing her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth, and her Internal Medicine residency at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Ashby was her first choice to practice medicine. Since joining Lake Region Healthcare, she has an opportunity to treat patients in Ashby and Fergus Falls.

“Many doctors are not anxious to serve small towns,” Peterson said. “It’s always been my intent to focus on rural medicine, to give people better access to health care.”

She grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Ashby and graduated from Ashby High School.

“I’ve had an opportunity to travel, and never found any place I like better than Ashby,” said Peterson. “I appreciate the people, sense of community and being close to family.”

Peterson met her husband, Justin Eberhardt, on the first day of chemistry class in college and they have been together ever since — most of the time.

“During medical school I had an opportunity to spend 10 months in the Rural Physician’s Associate Program at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls,” said Peterson. “During that time Justin got a student teaching job at Ashby School, and later a staff position teaching at Alexandria Technical College,” said Peterson. “I had to go back to Minneapolis for my residency, so Justin was living here in Ashby five years before I got here.”

She is a member of the College of Physicians. The couple purchased a home in Ashby last year.

When asked about her hopes for her practice, “I have everything I had hoped for by being here in Ashby,” Peterson said. “In the future, I would hope the clinic can provide even more services to the community, as patient volume warrants.”

She will have regular hours at the Ashby Clinic on Mondays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Peterson will also be available at the Fergus Falls Main Clinic on other weekdays and will work in both internal medicine and hospitalist roles for patients ages 15 and older.

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