Thang Luong, D.O. will join MRHC this fall

During the month of January Dr. Doug McLaws (left) worked with Dr. Thang Luong as he completed an internship at Manning Regional Healthcare Center (MRHC). Dr. Luong will complete his residency at Genesis Hospital in Davenport, IA, in six months and will join the staff at MRHC Sept. 1.

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During the month of January Manning Regional Healthcare Center (MRHC) staff and patients had an opportunity to become acquainted with Dr. Thang Luong, a physician who will be joining the MRHC staff Sept, 1. Luong completed an internship at the Manning hospital seeing patients with Dr. Doug McLaws.

​Luong graduated from Des Moines University in 2015 and is now in the third year of his residency at Genesis Hospital in Davenport, IA.  His interest is family practice and he chose to do his internship at MRHC to experience it first-hand since he will be working here soon.
He said he was looking for a job about nine months ago and knew nothing about MRHC.
“What I did know was the type of work I wanted to do when practicing as a physician. (At Genesis) we round hospitals, see clinic patients outside the hospital, go to nursing homes and work in the ER, so for me the transition is natural,” he said. “I want to work in a rural setting, at least early on in my career because I want to keep my skills sharp, and I think there is more I can learn. I interviewed in Albia; I just knew the people here were nicer and the type of practice is more congruent with what I want to do.” 
Luong was born in Vietnam. He came to the U.S. at the age of nine and grew up in Los Angeles, CA. When he came to Iowa to attend medical school he had every intention of going back to California after school, until he met his girlfriend, Vy. She is a nurse at Genesis currently working on the cardiac floor. She is training to become a nurse practitioner.  
“She has one year of study remaining, and can do much of it online which will allow her to move to Manning,” he explained.
Luong hopes she might consider working in Manning.
​When asked about MRHC, he said, “I like that it is a newer facility, but that’s not why I came here. I like the fact that I get to be well rounded while I am here, and I like the people. After interviewing here, I felt like I didn’t need to look any further.”
He added, “I just want to be a good doctor, and I feel Manning will give me an extension to my training.” 
It was a first-time experience for McLaws to have a resident follow him. During the internship Luong worked the same schedule as McLaws, seeing patients and getting familiar with MRHC’s electronic records. He had the opportunity to visit the Manilla Manor where McLaws oversees the care of approximately one-half the residents.
Serving as his preceptor, McLaws said Luong would see patients initially on his own and was very good at educating the patient about whatever was going on. They then saw the patient together.
McLaws said, “It helped me to see that he was going through the process correctly. Academically, he definitely has got it. I watched, to make sure he could do the art of medicine.”