Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services welcomes Dr. Doug Lanoue to the staff of physicians who serve the system’s family healthcare clinics throughout DeWitt, Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, and Vermillion counties. After completing undergraduate studies at Monmouth College, medical training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, and residency at Mercy Family Medicine in Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Lanoue was on his way to finding his niche in rural family healthcare. Referred to by patients as "Dr. Doug", he has established himself in family practice medicine in order to care for patients of all ages. From wellness and prevention to the treatment of chronic and acute illness, Dr. Lanoue’s scope of practice also includes maternity care, a service for which he prepared through a fellowship in Maternal Child Health in Oak Park, Illinois.
Dr. Lanoue, certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, chose to practice Family Practice medicine after learning more about the need for rural doctors in the Rural Medicine Program in medical school. As a rural family physician, specifically in underserved areas of Illinois, Dr. Lanoue discovered he could realize his desire to make a difference by providing patients with easier access to consistent care. Focusing his primary care practice on community and women’s health at the Onarga Clinic enables him to help families thrive by providing medical care that impacts quality of life, with management of diabetes and hypertension being at the top of the list.
Eager to get into the routine of seeing patients at the Onarga Clinic, Dr. Lanoue is also looking forward to delivering babies at Gibson Area Hospital, anticipating the opening of the new maternity unit in the spring of 2014. He is excited to be part of GAHHS, and noted, "The support for quality rural medicine is always there, not only in the community, but among the colleagues." As a physician whose goal is to simply practice rural medicine, he is among good company considering the recent accolades received by several medical staff members for their excellence in rural healthcare.
Dr. Lanoue and his dog Gilda, an Old English Bulldog, will soon be residing in Gibson City where there will be ample room for Lanoue’s hobbies of woodworking and working on antique "muscle" cars. The second of ten children raised in Manteno, Illinois, by a heavy equipment mechanic father and seamstress mother, he expects his family will be visiting him often, especially if he needs some help with buttons falling off his white coat. While in med school, Dr. Lanoue horrified his mother once when he sewed a button back on by himself—using a suture kit.
