Michelle Burdette

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Michelle Burdette '86 from Madison Finds Success in Medicine

BY LINDSEY BYARS

M

ichelle Burdette was born and raised in Summers County, West Virginia. Her father and most of her family worked on the railroad, an industry that served as the main source of employment for the area when Michelle was growing up.

“In Hinton, or Summers County, we don’t have coal mines so the railroad is the main employer,” she says.

Her mother worked in billing at the local hospital, one of the other major employers in the rural area. Michelle’s career aspirations would eventually lead her to a similar work environment, but not in the town where she grew up. The community of Hinton was tight knit, so much so that Michelle and a group of her friends commuted to Concord together after they graduated from Hinton High School. The college was a short drive from their home, so sharing the cost of fuel and forgoing room and board helped Michelle save money for the degree that would come after she graduated from Concord.

“There were several people from my high school class, that if we had classes at the same time, we were able to carpool together, so it wasn’t too bad. Until we had snow storms,” Michelle says.

Commuting may not have given Michelle a traditional college experience, but she was focused on her academics more than her social life on campus. She majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry with a career goal aimed towards the medical field.

“I kind of always wanted to go into medicine,” Michelle says. “I thought at one point, I was thinking maybe pharmacy. And then I decided I

Allen H. Ball, Burdette's husband, Michelle, Michelle's mother, Margaret Burdette, and father, Ferrell Burdette

may get bored with that, so I decided to go into medicine.”

Professors like Dr. Bayless and Dr. Chapman in the Biology department, and Dr. Jones and Dr. Elkins in Chemistry motivated Michelle to work hard, preparing her for her years of medical school that would follow.

“I felt really prepared for medical school after going to Concord,” Michelle says.

Michelle graduated from Concord in 1986, leaving home for Huntington where she attended medical school at Marshall University. When it came to choosing a specialization, Michelle again worried that her choices would eventually lead to monotony and boredom. She decided the best fit for her would be Family Medicine, a field that offered stability and daily variety.

“I thought I would get bored with one of the more specialized specialties. With Family Medicine, you see a little bit of everything,” she says.

Michelle graduated from Marshall University in 1990 and spent the next three years doing her residency through West Virginia University and Charleston Area Medical Center. After her residency, she worked part time between Ashland Medical and The Care Center, which operated out of the emergency room at Thomas Memorial Hospital. She also put in time in the medical department that the DuPont Corporation provided at their chemical manufacturing plant in Belle, West Virginia.

After a couple of years working between locations, Michelle took a full-time position at Ashland Medical located on the fringe of Charleston on the section of Route 119 called Corridor G.

“I really had no idea what I was going to do when I finished residency, and I was offered the job at Ashland Medical by one of the owners,” Michelle says.

The practice was started in 1989 by three doctors who had previously worked in an emergency room together. Michelle was offered a position in 1993 and eventually became a partner in the practice.

“When I started working with them, we kind of clicked and we’re all still together. One of them finally retired a couple weeks ago, but the rest of us are still together,” Michelle says.

The group owned Ashland Medical until 2015 before selling out to Thomas Health Systems to escape the financial overhead that was proving difficult to manage.

“I think a lot of the private practices are gradually going away because of that, because it’s gotten way too expensive to keep up a private practice, which is sad,” Michelle says.

Even though ownership has changed, Michelle says the practice has grown over the years. They currently have five physicians, two physician assistants, and a nurse practitioner. Together, they treat many of the common ailments in West Virginia, like hypertension, diabetes, and COPD. The office also acts as an urgent care facility, so they treat lots of walk-ins and minor injuries.

Due to the location of the practice, Michelle says they see lots of patients from Logan,

I felt really prepared for medical school after going to Concord.

- Michelle Burdette

Boone, and Lincoln Counties. That area is largely supported by the coal industry, so over the years, Michelle has seen firsthand the economic impact of the industry on the area and the people who live in the coal fields.

“With the coal mines closing, there’s a lot of people moving out of those areas so we’ve lost patients because of that,” Michelle says. “And then we’ve had a lot of patients that have stayed with us, but they’ve lost their insurance and we’ve had to work through some of that.”

For the past 27 years, Michelle has not only seen economic changes in her patients, but also shifts in the medical field.

“There’s gotten to be a lot less freedom in practicing medicine,” Michelle says. “There’s a lot of insurance involvement, so if there’s a certain medication I want to put someone on, I may not be able to because of their insurance.”

Regardless of the obstacles facing the medical industry, Michelle believes Family Medicine is important, especially in West Virginia.

“There’s not enough to go around,” she says. “We’re always getting people looking for new physicians. There’s a big need for it.”

Michelle has put in nearly three decades at her family practice. In 2000, a lab tech and friend she met during her residency fixed her up on a blind date with a man—Allen Ball— who lived in her home town of Madison.

“She kept thinking for years she wanted to get us together and finally she worked it out and it worked,” Michelle says.

This marriage only deepened the roots Michelle had planted in the Charleston area after medical school. Michelle says she is familiar with the area, familiar with all the specialists there, and she has no plans on retiring any time soon: “Oh, I will retire, but I don’t know. I have been thinking about it, but I haven’t made any definite plans.” When she does finally retire, Michelle feels like practicing medicine will still be part of her plan, even if it’s on a volunteer basis. Health Right in Charleston provides free care for people who need it, so even if it is a few days a month, Michelle wants to continue to serve the people she has dedicated her career to caring for.