Quinter’s Michael Machen was honored recently as the Kansas Family Physician of the year by the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians during a ceremony in Overland Park.
Machen graduated from the University of Kansas in 1977 and from the KU School of Medicine in 1983. After a residency in family medicine at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa Medical College, the Concordia native has spent the last 33 years practicing medicine in the northwest Kansas town of about 900 people.
“It’s the people,” said Machen, who is a partner at Bluestem Medical and on staff at Gove County Medical Center. “The people are your patients, and they become your friends. It might sound cliché, but you’re taking care of the salt of the earth. These are people who work hard, and they love life and look out for each other. They would give you the shirt off their backs and ask for nothing, just because it’s the right thing to do.”
Machen has a seemingly boundless commitment to the next generation of medical students, whether it’s serving as network site director for KU Medical Center in northwest Kansas or his association with the Scholars in Rural Health program. Machen has helped turn his corner of the Sunflower State into a place to be for medical students. So much so that there is a waiting list of students who want to serve preceptorships in the 15 to 20 towns that take part in the program. During his time in Quinter, more than 150 students have spent time in northwest Kansas.