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Phone: (276) 523-6715 Chris Basham, M.D. is a board-certified family physician who practices in Big Stone Gap with Medical Associates of Southwest Virginia, an affiliate of Wellmont Physician Services. In addition to Dr. Basham, the practice is staffed by a family nurse practitioner. Medical Associates operates ambulatory centers at two locations in Southwest Virginia - Big Stone Gap and Norton. The Norton practice includes two family physicians, three internists, a cardiologist, a physician's assistant, and two family nurse practitioners. Drs. Basham, Cooperstein, and Taylor share after-hours and hospital call with their colleagues in Norton. Dr. Basham was born February 8, 1972 in Bluefield, West Virginia. His father was a public school coach, principal, and superintendent, and the Basham family resided in rural communities throughout western Virginia as Chris grew up. Chris attended college at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, graduating with a BS degree in Biology in 1995. In 1995, he entered medical school at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, taking a MD degree in 1999. Dr. Basham matched with the Bristol Family Practice Residency at East Tennessee State University where he finished training in 2002. He has been an attending physician with Medical Associates of Southwest Virginia since 2002. While in residency training, Dr. Basham taught nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and medical students. He worked part-time as a clinic physician for the Saltville Medical Center in Smyth County, Virginia and he precepted medical students as providers of care for volunteer health fairs in rural Southwest Virginia. Dr. Basham was Chief Resident 2001-2002. He is ACLS and NALS certified.
On average, Dr. Basham sees 16-20 patients a day in the office. He estimates that 10% of his patients are children or adolescents, 20% are adults under the age of 50, 30% are adults between the ages of 50 and 70, and 40% are adults over the age of 70. About 50% of Dr. Basham's patients are covered by Medicare, 30% receive Medicaid, and 20% are privately insured.
Among his professional interests, Dr. Basham gives precedence to end-of-life care, geriatrics, diabetes, dermatology, and orthopedics within the scope of sports medicine. He is the team physician for the University of Virginia's College at Wise. In his leisure time, Dr. Basham enjoys being with his wife, Heather, and their children Luke (b. 1998), Sam (b. 1999) and Olivia (b. 2002.) The family lives in Wise, Virginia. Dr. Basham enjoys jogging, cycling, and raising vegetables and flowers in a home garden. He devotes lots of energy to home improvements and the Bashams take part in many church activities at the First Church of God in Wise. Residents who train with Dr. Basham will learn a great deal about how to practice in a small rural hospital. They will have lots of opportunities to practice primary care and they will encounter a much broader range of diagnoses among his patient population than among patients in the residency setting. Residents on block rotations may choose to stay in area motels - Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, Country Hearth, or Super 8. Local citizens may offer room and board in their homes. GMEC is often successful in locating furnished homes or apartments for residents; however, we cannot guarantee results because short-term rentals are sometimes hard to secure in rural areas. Wellmont Lonesome Pine Hospital is an acute care facility with 49 staffed beds and an occupancy rate (1997) of 42.4%. In 1997, 8.9% of the hospital's expenses were allocated to charity care, bad debt or taxes and Medicaid patients accounted for 16.6% of patient days. The hospital offers a wide range of services - emergency, inpatient and outpatient care, intensive care, surgery and anesthesia, obstetrics, radiology, imaging, cardiopulmonary rehab, laboratory, nutrition, physical therapy, pharmacy, home health, and occupational medicine. Wellmont Health System is a non-profit integrated care delivery network that includes two tertiary level hospitals - Bristol Regional Medical Center (377 beds) and Holston Valley Medical Center (540 beds) along with Lonesome Pine. Big Stone Gap is in the western part of Wise County, which has a population of 40,123 (2000). About 4,860 people live in the corporate limits of Big Stone Gap and almost 3,000 more live in neighborhoods just outside the town proper. Big Stone sits in the "gap" of a towering ridge called Stone Mountain. The town stretches across the lower reaches of Powell Valley, a place long celebrated as one of the loveliest pastoral landscapes in the world. The local economy is based on educational, health, and social services (23.6%), wholesale and retail trade (16.9%), mining, forestry, and agriculture (10.7%), construction (7.3%), recreation, accommodation, food services, and the arts (6.9%), public administration (6.6%), and manufacturing (6.1%). In 1995, the largest employers in the county were Westmoreland Coal Company, the school board, Buster Brown Apparel, Fournier Furniture, Paramont Coal Corporation, and Powell Mountain Coal Company. Big Stone Gap is accessed by four lanes of US Highway 23 and is served by a number of local and franchised restaurants, discount stores, groceries, and specialty boutiques. There is one shopping center, anchored by Food Lion and Wal-Mart stores and blessed with a good Mexican restaurant. Norton/Wise is 10 minutes away with more shopping centers, a two-screen cinema, several motels, and more restaurants. There is one large municipal park in Big Stone Gap, along with several museums and historical attractions - the Southwest Virginia Museum, the John Fox, Jr. Museum, the Meador Coal Museum, the June Tolliver Playhouse (outdoor theater), and the June Tolliver House and Craft Shop. High Knob Lake and Natural Tunnel State Park are about 25 minutes from downtown Big Stone Gap. For more information about the local community, see the GMEC profiles for Wise County and Norton.
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Christopher
M. Basham, M.D.
Dr. Basham works in an office setting from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.
Monday through Thursday. He is in the office from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00
noon on Fridays. He has exclusive use of three exam rooms on clinic
premises. Patients who need x-rays, lab work, or other diagnostic services
go across the street to Wellmont Lonesome Pine Hospital. Typical procedures
performed in the office include joint injections, nail removal, and
dermatological treatments.
Dr. Basham maintains pediatric, medicine, and ICU/CCU admitting privileges
at Wellmont Lonesome Pine Hospital. He shares call with seven other
physicians and is on call about one weekend in eight. Dr. Basham also
has admitting privileges at Heritage Hall Nursing Home, a 180-bed facility
located on property adjacent to Wellmont Lonesome Pine as well as Heritage Hall in Wise. He visits an
average of 20 patients at least once a week in the nursing home.