At the end of a long work day, as others are traveling home, Dr. Aron Rogers, who is also wrapping us a full day at work, is either dividing his time between volunteering his services or practicing what he preaches: health and exercise.
“You can tell he has a vested interest in each and every one of his patients,” said Tillie Andrade, practice manager at HealthCare Partners Medical Group West Craig Clinic where Rogers practices.
“His bedside manner is amazing. He is great to work with on a daily basis.”
During his daily routine, Rogers applies the same sort of care that he embodies in his volunteering. “The thing I love most about medicine are the relationships,” said Rogers. “I really feel like I’ve developed a deep bond with these people — they are in a way a part of my family.”
One of Rogers’s most enjoyable experiences with HealthCare Partners Medical Group is the preventative care applied through HealthCare Partners’ Total Care Model, which is when a primary care provider works with an entire network of specialists, hospitalists, nurses and care managers to keep patients healthy and provide coordinated care.
Each week, Rogers meets with the network of medical professionals at complex patient discussion meetings to confer on individual patients and how best to treat and provide preventative care.
One of Rogers’ main areas of interest in the medical field is preventative care, and specifically prevention of obesity. He feels that if society can prevent obesity levels from rising then a lot of medical conditions can be prevented.
While Rogers exemplifies the finest of health care, he wasn’t always in the health care field. In fact, Rogers comes from a family of fisherman. “I grew up on a charter fishing boat,” he said. “I was a deck hand for six years. That’s how I paid for college — working on a fishing boat.” Rogers, who grew up in a small town in Washington, did know that he wanted to get into the medical profession at a young age. When he was a teenager, he really saw how there was a lack of primary care providers in the town where he grew up. As he advanced into college he found he had an affinity for the life sciences and further sought out family practice.
“I actually never really considered any other type of medicine,” said Rogers. “When I went to medical school, I liked the idea of being able to take care of babies and delivering babies, which I did for 10 years, take care of kids, adults, and geriatrics — the full spectrum of patients.”
Rogers attended Brigham Young University where he received a bachelor of science degree in zoology and pre-medicine. He then went on to earn a doctor of osteopathic Medicine Degree from Western University of Health Sciences all before landing in Las Vegas, where he completed his residency.
Following his residency, Rogers was hired on as an assistant professor of family medicine for the University of Southern Nevada School of Medicine. “I taught doctors how to be doctors, but I didn’t see patients nearly as much as I do now,” Rogers explained. “Most of my patients I had there came to HealthCare Partners with me.”
Rogers loved teaching students, but really yearned for building stronger bonds with his patients, so as he transitioned out of teaching, he decided to chase after his goals. Not only did he join HealthCare Partners, but he also went on a medical mission with the International Medical Relief.
“We were in a little town right on the Ganges River about 80 miles east of New Delhi, very rural,” explained Rogers. “It really opened up my eyes. I would love to do that again, that’s a huge goal of mine.”
His goals include eventually traveling to Turkey to help Syrian refugees as well as to Southeast Asia and Africa. He’s even considered Doctors Without Borders, but feels he is most beneficial to his patients here and would like to get several years under his belt before he takes off for a program like that.
“I like discovering an illness that someone has and then being able to fix it; it’s kind of the idealistic thought of what medicine is and I love that,” he said.
In addition to being utterly devoted to the practice of medicine, Rogers is also an avid runner and has run two half marathons in the past year. “I feel it’s really important to be an example for my patients,” he said. “I like to be in shape and at least look like I practice what I preach.”
One would find it hard not to like Rogers, whose lighthearted personality and caring disposition makes him a light in the room.
“As physicians, I’m speaking for myself, but I think most of us feel this way, we’re really blessed to be physicians,” said Rogers. “We’re really fortunate to be in this career. I sincerely mean it, we get to come in and help people every day.”