Scoggins joins P.C. Hospital as Family Practitioner

Phillips County Hospital & Family Health Clinic welcomed their newest Family Practitioner last week when Christy Scoggins joined the medical staff.

Scoggins comes to Phillips County by way of Alaska but grew up in Coahoma, Texas, where she was raised by her parents who owned a Texaco Station in the area (her father is also a veteran of the Vietnam War as a member of the United States Air Force.) Christy was a fourth-generation Scoggins to the area and lived there until the age of 26 when she moved to Burnet, Texas which is Central Texas near Austin with her husband, Billy (the two have been married for 31 years and are from the same hometown and were high school sweethearts.) In Burnet, Billy and Christy raised their five children (two biological and three adopted children) Cody, now 30, Heather, now 29, Thomas, who passed away at age 17, and the twins, Christina and Billy, ages 29.

"We raised our children there until they all graduated," Christy said. "After our children graduated from college, we moved to Alaska to explore the world a bit."

Christy said that she was forced to drop out of high school when she first became pregnant with her first child - "Back then, girls didn't go to high school if they were pregnant," she said - before attending Howard College to earn her Licensed Vocational Nurse degree.

Christy said her hometown doctor in Coahoma had a huge influence in her life and helped guide her toward a career in the medical field.

"He had a huge influence on my life. Since I was a teen mother, he knew me and my potential, he called and set me up with his wife who taught nursing," Christy said. "He was my life long doctor and great influence in making certain he took care of me as a whole and he knew I needed an education and he knew me well enough as his patient to know that I could go to college and finish. He never saw me as a dropout or teen mom."

After attending Howard, Christy went on to Angelo State University for her RN and BSN degrees and then Hardin Simmons University for her master's degree in Nursing and FNP. Christy now has 29 years experience in nursing, 17 of those as an FNP.

"I love working with families and getting to become part of their lives," she said of the parts of healthcare she enjoys the most. "My last practice, my babies were bringing me their babies to treat. I love seeing my patients succeed in life as well as their health."

Christy said that the hardest part of working in the healthcare field is any kind of loss.

"Whether it is death, stroke, heart attack, cancer, these changes permanently change the family and the person, their family and everyone around them including their healthcare," she said.

Christ was just ending her first week of work at the Phillips County Hospital & Family Health Clinic when she met with the PCN for this interview and said things were going great.

"I have been very well received," she said. "People have been very open and not guarded and happy that I am here and engaging. That is not very common in other places. It's nice and very comforting."

Christy said that she and Billy - who is now retired after many years of working as a butcher, a plumber, and a bull rider (though admittedly in his younger days) - had never been to Phillips County before taking the job here but the couple is ecstatic to be here.

"I was blessed to be referred to this area," she said. "My recruiter knew that I am happiest in small towns."

Aside from work, Christy says she enjoys collecting guns, knives, and antiques and Billy and her both love to hunt and fish (Billy bagged a black bear in Alaska not that long ago and Christy netted some nice, big, King Salmon.) "Phillips County feels like being home which has been so nice," she said. "Billy and I have already driven all over to look at the land and pick out our hunting areas and scouted the best fishing holes. We have sampled many of the restaurants and lastly, sat and appreciated the sunset here."