When asked what he had done during his first week in Libby, second-year medical resident Dr. Hank Pelto said he biked on Haul Road and hiked up Leigh Lake.

Of course, he also delivered a baby the night before and had seen patients during the week with doctors at Libby Clinic.

Pelto, a native of the Seattle area, is midway through a monthlong family medicine rotation in Libby.

“We do office hours and we take a certain amount of overnight calls for obstetrics and newborns as well as general medicine patients,” Pelto said. “We let the ER doctors know what we’re interested in and they’ll call us in for certain procedures.”

Once his family medicine rotation is over this month, Pelto will spend August completing his general surgery rotation.

A resident of the University of Washington Family Medicine Residency program, Pelto said that general family medicine is the field he wants to pursue, with a specialized interest in men’s health. 

Pelto had been looking forward to spending two months practicing rural medicine in Libby.

“I’m happy to be here,” he said. “Everyone’s been fantastically nice. It’s pretty well known in our program that it’s a great city to come to because everyone’s real nice and helpful.”