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Wesley Eastridge, M.D. Phone: (276) 386-3411 Wes Eastridge is a board-certified family physician who belongs to a large primary care group known as Mountain Region Family Medicine. The group practice includes physicians in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Dr. Eastridge is partnered with James Wolfe, M.D., another board-certified family physician and GMEC preceptor. The Gate City office of Mountain Region Family Medicine also employs a family nurse practitioner and thus qualifies as a rural health clinic, receiving cost-based reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. Dr. Eastridge is a citizen of the United States, born in 1957. He is married with children. Eastridge holds an AA degree awarded in 1977 by Oxford College of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. In 1979, he earned a BA in Chemistry from Emory College of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Eastridge received an MD degree in 1983 from the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia. In 1984, he completed an internship in Family Practice at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. In 1986, Eastridge finished residency training in Family Practice at the Chesterfield Family Practice Center in Richmond, Virginia. The Chesterfield program is part of the Department of Family Practice at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Eastridge practiced at the Family Practice Center in Newport, Tennessee from 1986 to 1990. He moved to Gate City in 1990 and entered practice with Gate City Family Physicians, now called Mountain Region Family Medicine. He has worked in partnership with Dr. James Wolfe since his arrival in Gate City.
Dr. Eastridge sees an average of 25 patients per day. Together, the physicians and nurse practitioner see 60-65 patients per day. He estimates that 10% of his patients are under the age of 12; 5% are adolescents; 40% are adults; and 45% are older adults. About 50% of his patients are enrolled in Medicaid or Medicare; 45% are commercially insured; and 5% have no insurance coverage. Eastridge makes home visits occasionally and acts informally as sports physician for his son's soccer team.
Dr. Eastridge has nursing home privileges at the Brian Center Health and Retirement home (76 beds) in Weber City, Virginia and Ridgecrest Manor (120 beds) in Duffield, Virginia. He visits patients in each nursing home once per month. Eastridge is very interested in the application of computers to medical practice. He is a member of the Education Committee for the Southern Medical Association (SMA) and past chair of the Association's Family Practice Section. Also with SMA, Dr. Eastridge is Associate Councilor for the State of Tennessee and a member of the Internet Task Force. He is past president of the John Sevier Chapter of the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Eastridge is a committed Christian. He belongs to the United Methodist Church and volunteers with the Sonrise Emmaus Walk in the Kingsport area. He also volunteers medical services on a regular basis for the Friends in Need Clinic in Kingsport, Tennessee. Residents who rotate with Dr. Eastridge may choose to stay
in a number of motels in Kingsport, Tennessee Meadowview
Resort, Ramada Inn, Kingsport Inn, etc. Local citizens may offer
room and board in their homes. GMEC can attempt to locate furnished
houses or apartments for residents, but we cannot guarantee results
because short-term rentals are difficult to secure in rural areas. Gate City is an incorporated town with a population of about 2,000. It is in Scott County, Virginia, which has a population of 23,204. Gate City is situated in a natural break or "gap" in the Clinch Mountain range near the Virginia/Tennessee border. U.S. Highway 23/58/421intersects with Virginia Highway 71 in Gate City before passing through the gap into Tennessee. Dominant sectors of the Scott County economy include retail trade, manufacturing, personal services, transfer income (retirement pensions, disability income, and welfare benefits), tobacco agriculture, and stock farming. In 1995, the largest employers in the county were the school board, Mascotech Industrial (automotive stampings), Joy Technologies (mining equipment), Ridgecrest Manor (nursing home), and KVT Food Stores (grocery distributors). Gate City borders on Weber City, Virginia, which borders on Kingsport, Tennessee. Without signs pointing out the town limits, drivers are unable to tell when they pass from one community to the next. Weber City is a town of about 1,350 people; Kingsport has a population in excess of 50,000. Given the many restaurants, shopping malls, cinemas, city parks, specialty boutiques, discount stores, and arts groups located in Kingsport, there is no shortage of recreational opportunities within a 30-minute drive of Gate City. There are two purely local points of interest: the Carter Family Fold is the home of the legendary Carter-Cash family where Jannette Carter hosts country music performances every weekend; the Homeplace Museum is a mountain farmstead (circa 1840-1850) with buildings reassembled from original log structures brought in from throughout Southwest Virginia. |
Office hours for Mountain Region
are 8:30 a.m. 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Dr. Eastridge
is not in the office on Tuesday afternoons or Thursday mornings.
There are 10 exam rooms at the practice site, shared by two physicians
and one nurse practitioner. Services on the premises include
a medical laboratory of high complexity, simple x-ray procedures,
emergency care, and minor surgery (suturing, wound repair, etc.)
The practice has a computerized medical records system along
with a computerized management information system that has the
capacity to track the number and diagnoses of patients seen by
residents. There is no computer/phone line dedicated for access
to the Internet.
Dr. Eastridge maintains Pediatric,
Medicine, and ICU/CCU privileges at Wellmont Holston Valley Medical
Center in Kingsport, Tennessee. However, he does not exercise
ICU/CCU privileges. The Mountain Region group includes four hospitalists
who admit patients for the entire practice. Dr. Eastridge makes
courtesy calls on his own patients at Holston Valley and maintains
consulting privileges at a second hospital in Kingsport - Indian
Path Medical Center (330 beds), a part of Mountain States Health
Alliance. There are seven Mountain Region physicians in Dr. Eastridge's
after hours call group, so he takes night call one night out
of every seven. There are no call expectations for residents
who work with Mountain Region.