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Phone: 276-679-0800
Thomas Potter, M.D. is a board eligible pediatrician with a practice in Norton, Virginia. Dr. Potter shares office space and exam rooms with Wes Campbell, D.O., Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Although Dr. Potter was born in Marion, Indiana on April 11, 1974, he was raised in the Town of Appalachia inVirginia. He loves living in the mountains of Southwest Virginia and plans a lifelong career of caring for his friends and neighbors in the hill country. Dr. Potter is married to Lauren Potter and the couple has one son, Thomas, born in December 2004 and one daughter, Harper, born June 2006. The Potter household includes three dogs - the Great Dane Maximus, a Miniature Dachshund named Pumpkin, and the American Bulldog, Brutus. Dr. Potter was graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee in 1996. He majored in Biological Sciences with a minor in Humanities. Dr. Potter remained in Johnson City for his medical training, taking a Doctorate of Medicine degree in May 2000. He completed an internship and residency in Pediatrics with University Physicians Pediatric Group at East Tennessee State University in July 2003, a teaching practice in Johnson City, Tennessee. During his last year of residency, Dr. Potter worked as an Emergency Medicine Staff Physician at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, Virginia. In 2003, he moved to Norton and opened a practice in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Dr. Potter created a second aspect of his practice – Appalachian Allergy Clinic – in July 2004. He is Vice-Chief of Pediatrics and has served as Chief of Staff at Norton Community Hospital. Child abuse and neglect, allergic disease and asthma, and sports medicine are special professional interests for Dr. Potter. He reviews cases of physical and sexual cases as a member of the Wise County Multidisciplinary Team in Wise County, Virginia. Dr. Potter sees patients in an office setting from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Tuesdays, and from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. He shares call with three other pediatricians in Norton and is on duty about one fourth of the time. Dr. Potter sees an average of 45 patients a day in the office and about 3 patients a day in the hospital. Another 10-20 patients come to the office each day for injections. About 80% of Dr Potter’s patients are infants, children or adolescents. Around 20% of his patients are adults, most of them visitors to his allergy/asthma clinic. Dr. Potter estimates that half his patients are covered by private insurance and that half are covered by Medicaid or Medicare.
Pediatric medicine was an easy choice for Dr. Potter. He suffered from asthma as a child and it was his personal experience that led him to concentrate in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases and asthma. Rural medicine was another easy choice for Dr. Potter. He grew up in the Virginia mountains and loves caring for the people who live here. He enjoys serving as team physician for the football team at Appalachia High School and he sometimes helps with the football team in Pound. Working with Wise County officials to help stop the cycle of violence against children is an important part of Dr. Potter’s practice. He routinely performs physical examinations and follow-up treatment for children who have been abused and, though sometimes frustrated by the bureaucracy of courts and social services, he finds the work very rewarding. Residents who train with Dr. Potter will engage in a busy practice that caters to both sick and well-child needs and that includes patients with a broad range of health problems. The doctor’s focus on asthma and allergy-related illnesses and treatment offers an unusual perspective for students of pediatric medicine.
Norton Community is a teaching hospital affiliated with the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Norton Community Hospital Internal Medicine Osteopathic Residency program is based on the hospital campus with an outpatient clinic in nearby Wise, Virginia. The hospital also runs an outpatient clinic in Coeburn, Virginia. Specialties on staff are Anesthesia, Cardiology, Dentistry, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Gastroenterology, Inpatient Rehabilitation, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Occupational Medicine, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Psychiatry and Urology. Norton Community Hospital is one of two acute care facilities in Norton, the other being Mountain View Regional Medical Center. Dr. Potter has full admitting privileges at Norton Community and courtesy privileges at Mountain View. The Southwest Virginia Regional Cancer Treatment Center is also located in Norton. Residents who train with Dr. Potter may choose to stay in a two bedroom furnished house near the Town of Wise or in one of the local motels in Norton/Wise– Best Western Wise, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Days Inn Nortron, or Super 8.
Two four-lane highways intersect in Norton (U.S. 23 and U.S. 58 Alternate) and offer easy access for travelers throughout Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky. There are four shopping centers in the Norton/Wise area with department stores, groceries, discount stores, and specialty boutiques. There is a two-screen cinema in one of the shopping centers. American, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian “sit-down” restaurants vie with fast food vendors for dining dollars. The Virginia/Kentucky “Opry” in downtown Norton showcases bluegrass, gospel, and country music acts on weekends and a Pro-Art Association based at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise offers a broad spectrum of cultural entertainments throughout the academic year. Norton has two city parks with well-equipped playgrounds in the downtown area. High above the city streets on Stone Mountain are the Flag Rock and High Knob recreation areas with facilities for hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking, and fishing. From a fire tower on High Knob, visitors can enjoy an awesome 360-degree view of the surrounding countryside. Just on the other side of Stone Mountain are Bark Camp Lake and High Knob Lake, both created by dams built to store municipal water supplies and prevent flash floods. See the county/city profiles for Norton and Wise County for more information about the surrounding community.
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James Thomas Potter, Jr., M.D.
Dr. Potter's office is located downtown Norton. His office has 8 exam rooms. It is equipped with high-speed internet service and electronic medical records. Procedures done on the premises include allergy testing, immunotherapy, wart removal, cryotherapy, and strep screening. Lab work perfomed in the office include CBCs and Lipid Profiles. Patients who need other medical laboratory testing, x-ray, or diagnostic studies are referred to Norton Community Hospital. 
Norton Community Hospital is a 129 bed acute care hospital under the governance of a community-based Board of Directors. Its history traces back to 1949, when three physicians established the Miners Hospital in a Norton mansion. Now in a modern, newly renovated facility, hospital services include emergency care, critical care, medical, surgical, pediatric, obstetric, and inpatient rehab nursing care, pharmacy, radiology, medical laboratory, nutrition, hyperbaric treatment, and a range of cardiopulmonary and rehabilitative therapies. Norton Community also operates a regional lung center, a regional rehab center, dialysis services, a sports and occupational medicine clinic, a durable medical equipment service, and a home nursing program. 
Norton lies in a long narrow valley overshadowed by the spectacular northern face of Stone Mountain. The city boundaries extend to those of the neighboring Town of Wise. The two municipalities share a population of around 12,000. The population of Wise County is 39,573. The economy is diverse, a change from its one-time dependence on coal mining and other extractive industries. Major sectors of the economy include: educational, health and social services (24%), retail and wholesale trade (17%), agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing, and mining (11%), construction (7%), arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services (7%), public administration (7%), manufacturing (6%), and professional, scientific, management, and administrative services (5%).