With the arrival of Dr. Mary Laughlin last week, the Mercy-Kalona Family Practice Clinic has met its original plan of having three physicians.

“My area is women’s health care,” she explained, noting she will serve as the office’s gynecologist. However, she will not be handling obstetrics or pediatrics.

“No patients younger than five,” she noted.

A native of California, Dr. Laughlin received her undergraduate degree from Grinnell College in Grinnell and graduated from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1981.

She was part of a large family health practice clinic in Austin, Texas from 1984-1999.

However, she had interviewed for the Mercy-Kalona position in August, 1998 and was accepted. it simply took until this summer to get everything arranged for the move to Iowa.

She and her husband and two children reside in Iowa City.

“I very much like the Iowa City area,” she said, referring to her time at the University. She also was very aware of Kalona and its Amish-Mennonite heritage and is looking forward to being here.

As her children “they are looking forward to seeing snow,” noting that they are native Texans who have seen only a “half-inch snow that melted in a few hours.”

Her 15 years of practice in Austin were as part of a group of 100 physicians in a service that had multiple offices.

“There were 12 physicians in my office,” she said, noting that she dealt with women’s health.

Although the population base may be a tad lower, Dr. Laughlin expects to be busy.

An Open House for her is set at the clinic for 2-4 p.m., Saturday, December 4.