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UKIAH, CA — MCHC Health Centers continues to expand high-quality medical services in the region. In November, MCHC welcomed pediatrician Dr. Raelene Walker, who will see patients up to age 25 years old at Hillside Health Center in Ukiah. She is fluent in English and Spanish.
MCHC Medical Director Justin Ebert, PA-C, said, “I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Walker to our pediatrics team. Dr. Walker brings a wealth of experience, compassion, and dedication to providing exceptional care for children and families. Her commitment to pediatric health and her patient-centered approach make her a wonderful addition to our practice, and we are excited for our community to benefit from her expertise.”
Walker comes to MCHC from Santa Cruz, where she worked as a pediatrician for more than twenty years. As a pediatrician, she values collaborating with her patients and their families and sees her role as providing guidance and information. “There are so many ways to do most things, even in healthcare,” she says. Parents are doing their best to care for their children, and she wants to partner with them in that.
Her interest in medicine began in childhood based on books and articles she read about inspiring female medical pioneers like physician Elizabeth Blackwell. When she read an article in her grandmother’s Reader’s Digest magazine about organ donation, where physicians accompanied organs in coolers on helicopter rides for emergency transplantation, Walker remembers thinking, “I want to do that.”
That childhood spark to pursue medicine only got brighter. At Stanford University, she graduated with both a Bachelor of Arts in feminist studies and a Bachelor of Science in biology. She then earned her medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Walker was a National Health Service Corps Scholar. The NHSC is a competitive program that provides financial support to students in exchange for their service as primary care providers in underserved communities after graduation. After medical school, she worked in a community health center in New Haven, Connecticut. In contrast to common perceptions of Connecticut, the majority of the patients she saw there were Spanish-speaking, many from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador. This placement also gave Walker the opportunity to become fluent in Spanish, building on communication skills she’d developed working in orchards alongside migrant workers in the rural part of Oregon where she grew up, and during a year working in Mexico for a binational nonprofit after college.
After several years in Connecticut, Walker moved to Santa Cruz, closer to her West Coast roots.
Walker appreciates that the speciality of pediatrics allows her to get to know people over time, building relationships and trust as kids grow up. She has cared for patients whom she met as newborns and then continued to see into their early 20s.
“I like all ages,” she says. “I love newborns. I think toddlers and preschoolers are hilarious. I love school-age kids, and I think adolescence is an amazing time in one’s life.”
Her special interests include mental health, substance use disorders, and children with special needs. Outside of her day-to-day role, Walker provides palliative and hospice care for children with complex needs, some of whom are facing end of life. This work grew out of a need she saw in two patient families seeking pediatric hospice care. She considers it a privilege to walk alongside families going through complex and high-risk medical situations.
Walker appreciates the mission of MCHC to serve everyone who seeks care regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. She is glad she moved to Ukiah and is enjoying becoming part of a community with a warm, multigenerational population.
Walker describes herself as very outdoorsy and enjoys spending time in nature. Over the summer, she completed a three-week trek in Nepal. She also likes reading and is learning to crochet small animal toys, which she hopes to share with her patients.
MCHC Health Centers includes Hillside Health Center and Dora Street Health Center in Ukiah, Little Lake Health Center in Willits, and Lakeview Health Center in Lakeport. It is a community-based and patient-directed organization that provides comprehensive primary healthcare services as well as supportive services such as education and translation that promote access to healthcare.