The Doc is Back In: Dr. Medina Opens up Private Practice in Malta

Malta officially has a place to see a very familiar face for their medical needs.

Dr. Edwin Medina, M.D., opened the doors of his new private practice named Malta Medical Associates on Thursday, February 2, in Malta.

He is located at 830 Central Avenue South, a building that formerly held the private practices of FNP Thad Giblette and chiropractor Roger Amundsun.

"We had an open house and Praise God, it was a very successful open house...," Dr. Medina said.

From 2000 to 2021, Dr. Medina was the Medical Doctor and Chief of Medicine at Phillips County Hospital in Malta, but due to some differences of opinion with the former PCH administration, his contract was paid out.

"You cannot appreciate the majesty of the mountains until you have seen the depths of the valley," Dr. Medina said. "I think that the Lord has really good things in store. I want to serve the people of Malta for another, at least ten years. My brain is still here. I have a little bit of mobility issues but praise God! I can Walk!"

The PCN caught up with Dr. Medina, to learn and share his story of how he entered the medical field and how he made it to Malta.

Dr. Medina was born in the mountain town of Gurabo, Puerto Rico.

"I'm a Puerto Rican Hillbilly, if you will," Dr. Medina said. "My father was in the Service, so I got to see a lot of the United States when I was a kid. I was very blessed to see different cultures and experience the military-dependent lifestyle.

His father, Jose Medina, was a Captain in the US Army, who was a Company Commander, who became a Quarter Master towards the end of his career. He retired in 1970. His mother is Dolores "Lolin" Diaz.

After high school, Dr. Medina attended Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and then the University of California San Diego, where he earned a degree in Molecular Biology in 1976.

At the time, Dr. Medina thought that studying Molecular Biology would be a waste of time, not knowing how he was going to use his degree.

"It turns out that nowadays, most medicine is based on molecular biology," Dr. Medina said. "Most of the medicine that we use is based on molecular biology."

When COVID-19 hit in 2020 and scientists were scrambling to produce a vaccine, Dr. Medina remembered his studies.

"I remember doing this in school, so it all made so much sense," Dr. Medina said. "God works in mysterious ways. In His wisdom, God had me there at UCSD, and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be who I am today."

Dr. Medina worked as a bio-chemist after graduation at Worthington Biochemical in New Jersey. Originally he looked for work in Puerto Rico and California, but was overqualified.

"So I ended up in New Jersey as a Research Scientist 1 in Quantitative Immunology," Dr. Medina said.

His knowledge and ingenuity in the field put him at odds with some of the staff that had been there for years, so Dr. Medina decided to move out of working in research.

After going back home, Dr. Medina, while in his vehicle, was hit by a dump truck.

"That's why my back is bad," Dr. Medina said. "I was at a country road with a yellow light and I made the appropriate braking, but the dump truck behind me did not."

He admitted that he was young and foolish and told the truck driver that he was okay.

He wore a soft collar and was put on Worker's Compensation.

"So many years later, my discs started breaking down," Dr. Medina said. "Coincidentally after that, I got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF)."

According to Dr. Medina, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever has a survival rate of 20-percent.

He found out about his bout with RMSF because he collapsed in front of a man.

Eventually Dr. Medina went back to Puerto Rico and was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, an ascending paralysis.

"I couldn't walk for about nine months," Dr. Medina said. "My dear mother, may she rest in peace, said 'you are going to walk again and you are going to go to Medical School.'"

He told her that he was a burnt-out biochemist that couldn't go back to school.

"With her prayers, I tribute my being a doctor to my mama," Dr. Medina said. "She believed in me and prayed for me."

He graduated from Medical School in 1982 and did his internship in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. and had his first permanent license in 1985. During the next ten years, Dr. Medina worked for five medical facilities in Puerto Rico.

He was eventually recruited to work in Connecticut at National Medical Research Corporation in Hartford in 1992.

After five years, he moved back to Puerto Rico in his first Medical Directorship in Saint Isabel.

"People loved me," Dr. Medina said. "I was the Mayor's public health person. He was a really nice guy."

During that time Dr. Medina worked at five different emergency rooms, all at once.

He eventually moved to Michigan in 1998, and had a similar job where he would visit multiple sites and homes of homebound people with Visiting Physicians Association in Kalamazoo.

After a year of traveling around Michigan, and many years traveling around Puerto Rico, Dr. Medina knew that it was time to slow things down.

"I got tired of the windshield time," he said. "We did a 300-mile round trip in one day and I told the manager, this is hard."

All the while, his family was still in Puerto Rico.

"I put my CV (like a resume) on the internet and Larry Putman, (former CEO of PCH) called me," Dr. Medina said.

When he was recruited to work in Phillips County in 2000, one top selling point was that he was allowed to sleep at home, and be called into the emergency room.

After moving to Phillips County, he met Sonia Ramos Murray, who is also from his home town of Gurabo, PR.

"God put me here because in all of my years, I have never met anybody from my hometown out in the United States of America," Dr. Medina said.

According to Dr. Medina the hospitals in Miles City and Malta put their resources together and brought Dr. Medina out by airplane.

"I interviewed in Malta and Baker," Dr. Medina said. "I almost went to Baker because they had a really nice facility and they were offering me more money."

Dr. Medina told Putnam that he would rather be in Malta, and Putnam gladly matched the salary offered by Baker and Dr. Medina was hired as Chief of Staff and Medical Director. He started at PCH on September 13, 2000.

Dr. Medina became good friends with former PCH providers Pat Armstrong, PA, and Thad Giblette, FNP who helped Dr. Medina acclimate.

"There were no doctors here," Dr. Medina said. "Doctors would come and leave or stay here two years and then leave. So Pat was essentially the Medical Director and did everything. A very smart, compassionate, and good Christian man. He helped me acclimate and get used to this."

Dr. Medina and his ex-wife Mabel Vasquez Medina (married in 1986) raised their children in Malta. Their daughter is Thalia Nashali Medina (now Zilkoski-Medina) and their son is Edwin Zahir Medina.

"Despite that fact that I am from the Caribbean and it is terribly cold out here, the people of Malta are just genuine, hard working, honest people," Dr. Medina said. "And they have a good work ethic. I noticed that right away."

Dr. Medina also served as the Director of the Phillips County Ambulance Service and Medical Director of Public Health.

The Malta Medical Associates staff includes Angie Stolem as Office Manager and Sonia Murray Handles the Billing Department.