Karen Weese Bell, MD

#### **The Quick Version** - I'm a family physician, board certified in Canada and the United States, and part-time hospice physician - I practiced rural and remote family medicine in northern Saskatchewan and worked with high-risk populations at a federally-qualified community health center in New Mexico - Practicing family medicine since 2010 — across rural and remote communities in northern Saskatchewan, a federally-qualified health center in New Mexico, and 10 years running my own insurance-based practice in Fort Collins - Now: Countercurrent Health - Outside of work, my deepest joys are my husband, our daughter, and our pets - Besides being with my family, I enjoy writing, movement, sitting by a crackling fire, coffee, and all things involving time in nature #### The Longer Story **_Who I Am (In a Nutshell)_** Hi! My name is Dr. Karen Weese Bell. I'm a family physician by training, and I'm also a part-time hospice doctor. I trained in Canada and am board certified in family medicine in both Canada and the United States. **_Family Roots_** Since my 20s, I've been fascinated by using multiple methods to approach illness or problems. I come from a long line of nurses on my mother's side, and clockmakers and engineers on my father's side. I love the mix of using practical approaches to health problems, such as food and exercise as medicine, while applying evidence-based rigor to current guidelines, all the while holding space for personal autonomy and values. I blend evidence-based guidelines, integrative perspectives, personal circumstances, and values together. Each decision has to make sense on a practical level and actually work in the messiness of real life. **_What Hospice Medicine Taught Me_** Hospice medicine gives me perspective on what matters. When people are at the end of their lives, true priorities become clear. Helping patients at the end of their lives has helped me appreciate and value the journey that exists long before someone goes on hospice. Seeing the end helps me stay oriented to what happens in the beginning and the middle. **_My Why_** For years, the system made this kind of medicine hard to practice. I got tired of working in what I call "McMedicine", rushing people in and out of exam rooms, clicking computer screen boxes, trying to listen to someone while clicking all the right boxes at the same time. It was exhausting for both me and the patients I served. I was continually running behind, because half the time I refused to "speed up" and whisk someone through that desperately needed time with me, much to the chagrin of waiting patients and my administrators. In 2015, I started exploring starting my own practice and founded a small, insurance-based micro practice. After 10 wonderfully therapeutic, yet financially difficult years, I had to shutter my doors. Determined to keep practicing the kind of medicine that nurtures my patients and sustains my business, I opened Countercurrent Health. It's not flashy or fancy. It's grounded, and designed to hold space for healing. **_My Offering_** Balancing people's unique situations and values brings me joy. Exploring medicine and treatment collaboratively brings me fulfillment. And journeying alongside my patients as they walk through their lives is a sacred honor. I'm glad you found your way here.