Many of our family physicians in Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Birch Bay and Everson, provide family centered obstetrical care. When OB care is provided by a family physician, it is unique in many ways!

When a woman chooses her family doctor for OB care, she is able to take advantage of the trusted relationship that already exists between her and her personal physician. Since her family doctor usually already knows the other members of her family, it is easy to include them as appropriate in birth and childcare planning. During pregnancy, as issues of pediatric care are considered, it is routine to anticipate, discuss and plan for care of the baby as well. Questions about breast feeding, safety, car seats, immunizations and sibling rivalry can all be discussed before the baby is born, without waiting to meet a new doctor after delivery.

Immediately after delivery, the delivering family doctor examines the newborn in the presence of the parents, and discusses all of the findings without any delay. Since the mother already knows her baby’s doctor, questions are easy to ask and answer right away.

Family physicians are residency trained, board certified specialist physicians who take a special interest in providing sensitive, collaborative family centered OB care, for which they have been trained in both the hospital and outpatient setting. As always, when the care of another type of specialist may be needed, the family physician will be an advocate to be sure that proper consultation is obtained in a timely manner.

You have chosen as your family physician either Dr. Daniel E. Austin, Dr. Chao-ying Wu, Dr. Jason T. Short, Dr. April Wakefield Pagels, Dr. Sue Dabney,  Dr. Mary Swanson, Dr. Anneliese Floyd, Dr. Kirk Gulden, Dr. John Raduege, or Dr. Carlos Montiel. We are specialists in family medicine, board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. Our practice is currently accepting new patients.

To learn more about the healthcare providers in our office please visit our Staff page. To learn more about our office policies and procedures please visit our Information page.

Our Physicians

All our family physicians are board certified. Today, that means three years of training after graduation from medical school, followed by a nationally standardized examination. In order to maintain specialty certification, it is necessary to take and pass a recertification exam every six years, and pass a practice audit.

Our Nurse Practitioners

Geraldine Kildow and Sharon Kerlin are Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners that help to provide patient care in our office. An Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) is a registered nurse with further education who is also professionally certified and licensed in the state of Washington to practice as a member of our health care team. We believe that both our doctors and our nurse practitioners have unique strengths that they bring to our health care team, and we pledge to work closely together to try and make our care more available and complete.

Family Care Network is an independent practice that is owned by our physicians. This is because we want our family physicians to be  independant and free to collaborate on behalf of our patients with other health care providers based only on the quality of their service and care.

Our teams of health care professionals and support personnel are located in family medical offices throughout Bellingham, and Whatcom County Washington.

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