About Us

The Duluth Family Medicine Clinic, in partnership with the Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program, is dedicated to educating compassionate, empowered and skilled Family Medicine Specialists who are prepared to be the foundation of healthy communities.

We are a Graduate Medical Residency Program. This means we are a site for new physicians to gain knowledge and experience in the field of family medicine. This experience includes providing care to patients in our clinic, specialty clinics, nursing homes, and both hospitals (Aspirus St. Luke’s and Essentia Health) in the Duluth area. We strive to provide a quality education and excellent care for our patients.

Our resident physicians are here for 3 years and discuss their findings from an office visit with a supervising physician for additional care advice and to ensure you are receiving the highest quality care. They work in teams. If your physician is not in the clinic on a day you need to be seen, we will schedule an office visit with one of their team members.

We believe in education and supporting learners. You may see medical students and pharmacy students in our clinic. You may be asked if they can join the physician for your visit. If you are ever uncomfortable with this, please let us know.

Our front desk staff answer all the clinic’s phone calls during business hours. They will also be the ones to register you when you arrive and provide your paperwork when checking out. We try to answer your phone calls in a timely manner, but you may encounter a wait. All calls are answered in the order received.

We work hard to meet the needs of our patients. We ask that you cancel your appointment if you know you are unable to make the appointment, so we can accommodate another patient in that time slot.

Three business days prior to your appointment you will get a reminder message. This could be via phone call, text message or MyChart message. The time stated in this message is your registration time. Arriving on time allows the rooming staff to complete what is needed before you see the physician. If arriving after your scheduled appointment time, we will do our best to see you, however you may see a different physician and there may be a wait.

Our appointment times range from 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the reason for the visit. If you wait longer than 15 minutes past your appointment time, please let our staff know.

If you call with symptoms and no appointments are available, your phone call will be sent to one of our Registered Nurses. They will triage your symptoms and provide you with care advice. If an appointment is needed, the nurses will help. We do offer walk-in appointments, but there may be a wait, and you may not see your primary physician. You will be seen as soon as there is an opening.

We request parents accompany their children to Well Child visits. Even though your child may be old enough to come alone, by law we are still required to have a parent’s signature for them to be seen. With a parent’s permission, others can bring a child to an appointment, but it does require a permission form to be on file at the clinic. If others will be bringing your child or your child will be coming alone, please speak with our front desk to make the proper arrangements. There are many things our staff must do prior to the physician seeing your child. Parents will have a questionnaire to answer. This questionnaire can be provided in advance through MyChart. When your child becomes a teenager there will be questionnaires for them to answer alone. There will also be parts of the office visit that the physician will want to speak with your adolescent alone. We value the relationship you have with your child and are not trying to keep you out of the conversation. This is a time for the physician to speak with your child as a young adult.

Controlled Substance Medications will require frequent office visits.

Requests for paperwork and form completion may require an office visit to assure the doctor has all the information needed to fill out these forms.

We are proud to provide prenatal and obstetrical care. There will be 2 physicians assigned to your care and delivery. Our physicians deliver babies at both Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke’s Hospital. You can have peace of mind in knowing who will be delivering your baby at the hospital of your choice.

We also offer appointments with our psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, pharmacists, and community health worker.

If you ever need to speak with a physician after business hours or on the weekend, one will always be available. Call 218-723-1112 to talk with the doctor on call.