Patients would often stop by River Bend Family Medicine just to gab with staff at the front desk or bring baked goods to Dr. Matt Hahn.
“I’m a simple country doctor,” said Hahn, who has practiced in Hancock, Maryland, for 20 years ― the past decade at his River Bend office. “Our waiting room is like a social network in and of itself.” Hahn is also a candidate for West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District though he has backed away from campaigning because of the coronavirus threat.
His waiting room is now closed for the same reason. But Hahn’s practice in this small town — pinned hard up against the borders with West Virginia and Pennsylvania, about 100 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. ― is not.
Patients who need an in-office appointment call when they get to the parking lot and wait there instead. A staff member escorts them in, opening all the doors, telling patients not to touch anything. Those who are ill use one specific entrance, which leads them upstairs where they are met by staff who follow strict infection-control measures. The rest, such as those coming in with a wound or a diabetes checkup, are treated downstairs.