Maurice Nida, D.O.
Community Physicians
Medical Arts Building #1
Norton Community Hospital
Norton, Virginia 24273

Phone: (276) 679-8890
FAX: (276) 679-9740

Maurice Nida is a double board-certified internist by the AOA and AMA who practices with Community Physicians, a group associated with Norton Community Hospital. The practice includes three internists, three family practice physicians, a family nurse practitioner and an adult nurse practitioner. All the clinicians at Community Physicians will be involved in precepting residents.

Nida was born October 20, 1960. He grew up in rural Lee County, Virginia, which is the westernmost county in the state. He earned a BS in Medical Technology in 1983 from Clinch Valley College (now the University of Virginia’s College at Wise). Nida was employed as a medical technologist at Lee County Community Hospital in Pennington Gap, Virginia from 1983 until 1988, when he entered medical school. In 1992, Dr. Nida received a D.O. degree from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, Virginia. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia in 1996. Dr. Nida has been practicing medicine in Norton since completing his residency.

Dr. Nida works in an office setting from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. He has exclusive use of three exam rooms, plus a surgical suite for minor surgeries. The practice has a medical lab of moderate complexity and simple x-ray equipment. Typical procedures performed on the premises include joint/soft tissue injections, I&D, removal of skin lesions, suturing lacerations, removal of foreign bodies, and toe nail removal.

Dr. Nida and a family nurse practitioner work as a team, seeing 30-35 patients each day. The majority of his patients (60%) are adults, 35% are geriatric adults, and 5% are adolescents. He does not see children. Dr. Nida really cares about access to health care in the community, accepting many patients who are uninsured and allowing them to “pay as they can”. About one-third of the patients seen by Dr. Nida are uninsured, one-third are covered by Medicaid/Medicare, and one-third are privately insured.

The practice has a computerized management information system that can track the number and diagnoses of patients seen by residents. There are Internet connections in the office suite as well as on the hospital premises. The practice has direct access to the University of Virginia Health System through the telemedicine program at Norton Community Hospital. Norton Community is a member of the Southwest Virginia Alliance for Telemedicine, a partnership between the University of Virginia and selected health care sites in Southwest Virginia. Through this system, physicians consult in real-time with sub-specialists at UVA. Telemedicine also creates access to medical education programs such as grand rounds, case conferences and lectures.

Dr. Nida maintains Medicine and ICU/CCU privileges at Norton Community Hospital where he rounds on an average of five patients per day. Typical procedures performed in the hospital include ventilator management, pace maker management, central lines, and swan-ganz catheters. He is on call every sixth night and every sixth weekend. Residents will be expected to be on call with Dr. Nida.

Dr. Nida is a strong advocate for rural medical education. He was instrumental in developing Norton Community Hospital as a hub-site for the clinical education of third and fourth year medical students from Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine (PCSOM). He is also in the process of developing a graduate medical education program at Norton Community Hospital as a part of the residency program at PCSOM. Dr. Nida serves as Chair of the Department of Medicine at PCSOM and teaches there part-time. He also serves as a part-time lecturer at the Edward Via Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) in Blacksburg. Dr. Nida will be training students from VCOM. He is Director of Medical Education as well as Chief of Medicine at Norton Community Hospital. Dr. Nida also serves as Medical Examiner for the County of Wise, investigating all suspicious deaths in the community.

Dr. Nida is interested in all aspects of internal medicine, with some concentration in critical care. He sees a high percentage of patients with COPD, diabetes and thyroid conditions. His personal interests include fishing and other outdoor activities and spending time with his wife and young son.

Residents who train with Dr. Nida may choose to stay in one of the area motels – Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Country Hearth, or Super 8. Local people may offer room and board in their homes. GMEC can attempt to locate furnished houses or apartments, but we cannot guarantee results because short-term rentals are extremely difficult to secure in rural areas.

Norton Community is a 129 bed acute care hospital that offers a standard 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.

Specialties represented on the active staff include: Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Practice, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Podiatry, Pulmonary Medicine, Radiology, and Urology. Specialties represented on the courtesy staff include: General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Occupational Medicine, Oncology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine, Psychiatry, and Pulmonary Medicine.

Norton Community is one of two hospitals in the City of Norton, the other being Mountain View Regional Medical Center. The Southwest Virginia Regional Cancer Center is also located in Norton.

Norton lies in a long hollow shadowed by the northern face of spectacular Stone Mountain. The city is surrounded by land forever altered by surface (coal) mining, and its 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 local economy is based on personal services, retail trade, manufacturing, communications, and transfer income (retirement pensions, disability income, and welfare benefits). In 1995, major employers included St. Mary’s Hospital (now Mountain View Regional Medical Center), Wal-Mart, Norton Community Hospital, the school board, and a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant.

Two four-lane highways – US 23 and US 58 Alternate – intersect in Norton and offer easy access for travelers in Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky. There are three shopping centers in the Norton/Wise area with any number of 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 the dining dollar. The Virginia/Kentucky “Opry” in downtown Norton showcases bluegrass, gospel, and country music acts on weekends.

Norton has two parks with well-equipped playgrounds in the downtown area. On Stone Mountain, high above the city streets, 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 profile for more information about Norton and the surrounding area.