Mason bids farewell to WCHS

Longtime Newcastle resident Jan Mason moved to Wyoming in July 1998, and began working at the Newcastle clinic, now the Weston County Health Services Newcastle Clinic, that August.

Mason had gone back to college at the University of Iowa in her 30s to pursue postgraduate level education specifically to become a PA-C (physician’s assistant certified). After graduation, she joined the doctors at the clinic in Newcastle, and she ended up putting her training and talent to work for the people of Weston County for the entirety of her career.

The team responsible for hiring Mason consisted of Drs. Lanny Reimer, Chuck Franklin, Mike Jording and Michael Carpenter, a fellow PA.

“I was fortunate that (they) had already embraced the
PA profession years before,
and recognized it for what it can do to contribute to health care and to the community,” Mason said.

She went back to school in order to have the chance to provide for her children in the way she wanted to. Partnering with the clinic seemed like the best fit to Mason and her family at the time.

“I was able to practice where I had flexibility, and was able to raise the kids in a stable and safe place,” she said. “It was a good fit.”

Her official last day working at the clinic was Dec. 31, but she began going into the office twice a week in July and said she has slowly settled into retirement.

“I am looking forward to relaxing,” she smiled.

Mason’s co-workers have seen her put so much into serving patients and the community during her nearly three decades at the clinic that they anticipate an impact from her leaving.

“She will be missed, that’s for sure,” Carpenter said.

Mason contributed greatly to women’s health care in Weston County as one of the few female providers in Newcastle, and she was someone the women in the community knew they could turn to.

“She had quite a following with the gals,” Carpenter confirmed.

The clinic is a family practice that offers a wide range of care, but having Mason for gynecological care, as well as other areas of female medical care, added significantly to the medical community’s outreach to the women in the community.

“She really liked women’s health and a lot of women depended on her for their health,” Franklin said.

“As we were expanding our practice, she fit in and worked well with the rest of us,” Reimer said.

Not only did she expand the clinic’s care capabilities, but she also brought a lighter energy to the space.

“She was able to expand our care to patients who preferred a female provider, and she was younger as well,” Reimer said

That youthful spirit was another good addition to their team, and Franklin said that Mason enjoyed planning events for the clinic.

“She was always a lot of fun,” he said. “She brought a life-of-the-party energy to the clinic.”

However, it was her ability to balance work and fun that made her so special to the clinic.

“She has a soft-spoken way about her that people really like,” Carpenter said.

Mason was dedicated to her clinic family and her patients, according to her co-workers. She knew that her work was important to the women of Newcastle and strived to give her patients and her profession the attention they deserved.

“She did high-quality care,” Reimer acknowledged.

Providing that level of care also meant that she had to stay well-versed in current medical innovations and advances.

“She was a very stable doctor, and kept up with current medical issues,” Carpenter said.

The long-time partnerships she formed through the clinic were an integral part of Mason’s career, but she was also welcoming to newer staff.

Allison Farella, one of the many people who had the opportunity to work with Mason, is fortunate to know her beyond the departing PA-C’s work at the clinic. While in high school, Farella baby-sat for Mason’s children before getting to know her professionally in adult life, and over the years, the two became friends.

“She was a very good provider and cared immensely about her patients,” Farella said.

“She also made time to have fun and joke around and just be a friend.”

One of the benefits of working in a small town is the ability to form a relationship beyond the professional. An Iowa farm girl, Mason was familiar with rural life, and that made it easy for her to also form bonds with some of her patients.

“You get to know people,” Mason said. “It is special to be able to form friendships with patients.”

Mason said that although her time at the clinic is done, her time in Newcastle is not. Part of her job was getting to know people, and she looks forward to seeing everyone out and about in the community.

“I want the community to know how much I appreciate them; they put a lot of trust in me,” she said.

And the community thanks her for her contributions to their good health.

“There will be things that I miss about being there, it is nice being able to know that maybe I had some effect on people,” she said.