Mahaska Health Hosts Successful Community Health Fair Promoting Wellness and Education
Mahaska Health new physicians pictured from left to right: Dr. Matthew Gritters, Emergency Medical Director; Dr. Holly Van de Voort, Pediatrician; Dr. Taylar Swartz Summers, OB/GYN Specialist; Dr. Garth Summers, OB/GYN Specialist; Dr. Todd Treimer, Family Medicine; and Dr. John Pargulski, Cardiologist.
Oskaloosa, IA – On Thursday, September 21st, 2023, Mahaska Health hosted a Community Health Fair at Gateway Church. The event drew a diverse crowd of residents wanting to know more about their health and well-being.
Attendees had the opportunity to partake in free cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, receive sleep assessments, and seek health guidance from board-certified physicians and specialists.
One of the primary objectives of the event was to promote health education and awareness so that informed individuals are better equipped to make proactive decisions about their health.
One of the event’s highlights was connecting with Mahaska Health experts. Attendees could engage in one-on-one discussions with specialists from various fields. This personalized interaction allowed community members to seek advice and clarification on their health concerns.
In addition to fostering health education and awareness, the fair showcased the comprehensive services provided by Mahaska Health, from cardiology to sports medicine, orthopedics, cancer care, general surgery, ob-gyn, maternity care, and pediatrics. With that wide array of options, Mahaska Health has continued offering more healthcare specialties to the community.
One of the newest services available at Mahaska Health is cardiology care from Dr. John Pargulski, a board-certified cardiologist.
Pargulski will join the community at the end of 2023 and provide most non-invasive cardiology testing to make services easier for residents.
Pargulski comes to Oskaloosa after spending most of his career in the Des Moines and St. Louis areas.
Pargulski said that he wasn’t “really looking for work. I was happy where I was honestly.”
But after a conversation with a contact in Iowa, Pargulski was told to look at Mahaska Health. “They’ve got quite a program going,” the connection said.
“My wife encouraged me to at least have [a] conversation. Once I started talking with Kevin DeRonde, the CEO, you can tell he’s real special when it comes to healthcare administrators. He’s really special at what he does, and he’s [an] extremely good leader and has done just an amazing job of cultivating a community of providers that rural medicine typically will not see,” Pargulski said.
“That really kind of caught my attention,” Pargulski said. “After 30 years of doing this, it just was such an enticing opportunity that even though I had planned on just retiring in the situation I was in, we decided that this might be a better opportunity.”
Oskaloosa News also spoke with Mahaska Health’s OB-GYN physician, Garth Summers. He and his wife, Taylar Summers, an OB-GYN physician at Mahaska Health, recently moved into the community.
For Taylar, it was a move back home, as she’s a Fremont, Iowa native, and according to her husband Garth, it influenced their decision to return to the community.
The duo not only share life outside of medicine together, they work closely together, even sharing an office, helping to strengthen each other. This setup allows them to easily consult each other, exchange ideas, and collaborate on patient care, ultimately ensuring that their patients receive the best possible medical attention.
Another deciding factor for them was to join a team “who are just so supportive and wanting us to be able to grow a successful practice together to help Oskaloosa and greater southeast Iowa.”
