Oakville Family Medicine

For Dr. Craig Czarsty, a board-certified family physician, medicine has always been a family affair. In 1983, he joined his father's practice, a fixture in Oakville since 1955. Together they cared for the local community up until his father's retirement in 2000.

In 2015, he joined the ProHealth Physicians family, continuing a legacy that has been equal parts medicine, tradition and community service.

In 2005, at the invitation of a family acquaintance, he made his first medical humanitarian trip to the Dominican Republic. This planted a seed that today is yielding significant fruit. 

About his start, he quips, "The person who invited me didn't last long. I still tease him. How come I am still going down there and we never see you!?" 

After this serendipitous start, however, he and a group of volunteers felt the need for change. This is how the Health Horizons International Foundation was born. 

"I had been going down there for four years. A group of us decided things weren't being done the right way. We are family physicians. We prefer follow up care. Things as basic as medical charts. We decided to do it the right way. So, in 2009, we started Health Horizons."

Since then, Health Horizons has grown in size and influence. It has moved closer to its goal of allowing poor communities to get primary care more easily. 

"Our mission is to improve community health. We do so by strengthening primary care services and systems. We started with one medical service trip a year, bringing down international volunteers. Now we do three trips."

We have come light years from 2009. We have grown to a full-time staff of 10. All of them are Dominican, including a Dominican-trained family physician."

"We also lead seven different programs. All are attuned to our mission of improving delivery of primary care, improving public health, and empowering local leaders," adds Dr. Czarsty.

Programs include:

• Chronic care.
• High blood pressure and diabetes education.
• Healthy living.
• Community food gardens.
• HIV awareness.
• Gynecological care. 

"We simply want to assist the Ministry of Health. What they do to care for their folks. In their model of care, everybody comes to them. This is very difficult for these people in these little villages up in the hills. Our model is to go up into the hills and see them."

About this, he adds, "going to a physical facility is difficult for these folks. We have a building up in the hills. It was an old sugarcane barracks. It was given to us about four years ago." 

"The Ministry of Health completely renovated it. Now we have a clinic up there. It is easier for people to get to that facility. Also, when we're doing our clinics, we hire a safari truck. It goes around picking people up and giving them a ride."

As their work advances, Health Horizons has big plans. It has been 13 years of intense work, but forr Dr. Czarsty, the rewards make it all worth it. "Patients are extremely grateful for any little thing we can do for them. It is just a joy to practice down there." 

"Also, most of the patients in our chronic care program have been with us since the very beginning. We've all seen them time and time again. It's almost like being in our own practices. We know these folks."

Be it the Dominican Republic or Connecticut, Dr. Czarsty believes in the power of relationships. For him, health care is about building a strong partnership. Something he has pledged to continue with those under his care...and with newer generations of patients. 

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Czarsty, visit our website.