Yalobusha Health Services Hires New Doctor
Dr. Daniel Hester will start at Odom Rural Health Clinic in October. He is a board certified pediatrician and a board certified internist.
WATER VALLEY – A 10-0year journey has led Yalobusha Health Service’s (YHS) newest physician, Dr. Daniel Hester, and his wife, Hannah, back to Water Valley’s Wagner Street.
The couple’s connection to the community originated back when they were dating as college students after meeting years earlier at a summer camp. Daniel, a Tupelo native, was a student at Ole Miss, and Hannah transferred from Mississippi State to Ole Miss and moved to a house on Wagner Street her senior year.
“I visited her at that house frequently, and our first house after we got married was on Lafayette Street,” Daniel explained. “So we were here for about another six months after we married before we moved.”
The couple’s stops during the decade that followed included four years in Jackson while Daniel attended medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Next was Rutgers University in New Jersey where he completed his residency in pediatrics and internal medicine. A trip back to Jackson followed for a fellowship.
As this journey started, Daniel explained he was looking for ways to help offset some of the tuition costs for medical school and learned about the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship. The program identifies rural college students who aspire to return to their roots to practice medicine.
In the years that followed the couple would often think about a small town for his first practice that would fulfill the requirements of the scholarship program.
“Our reference point was always Water Valley. It was a place we knew, a place we liked. We just never thought it would work out because it was a long time before we would even get to that point,” he explained.
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