
Erin Carey, Physician Assistant, Riverwood Healthcare Center
Riverwood Healthcare Center is pleased to introduce Physician Assistant Erin Carey, who will see patients at its Aitkin clinic. In her role as physician assistant for primary care, Carey will see patients at all ages and life stages.
Her special interests include gastrointestinal and dietary sensitivities, irritable bowel syndrome /colitis, allergies relating to food, animals or the environment; asthma and pulmonary conditions, blood pressure, joint pain, as well as growth and sleep disorders in children.
For eight years Carey worked in a large family medicine clinic in New York City helping patients from all walks of life and every health need. She also spent three years working with underinsured, homeless and shelter/domestic violence patients, and one year practicing pediatrics in a private medical office seeing children from birth to 21 years old.
Carey graduated magna cum laude with a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Bridgeport, Conn. For her undergraduate studies, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with a minor in Biology and Language Studies from St. John’s University, New York.
Carey shares reasons behind her medical career choice, “I became passionate about medicine when following my father, a pediatric endocrinologist, to the hospital on weekends. I loved seeing how he developed relationships with his patients and thought about how comforted he made them feel. I chose family medicine due to my desire to have that relationship with people whose lives I get the privilege to know so intimately.”
Born in Connecticut, Carey lived in Montreal, Canada, while her father was on a medical sabbatical, then moved to Long Island, N.Y., until attending St. John’s University. After more than 20 years of living in Queens, Carey decided to make a life change with a move to a rural area to enjoy the lakes, peace and quiet and a new culture, settling on northern Minnesota.
Carey lives with her cat, who also enjoys the transition from city to country life. Her family includes her retired parents, an older sister and husband, and younger brother and wife with twin one-year-olds—all living in New York. Away from work, Carey loves to cook and bake, read nonfiction, listen to law and crime podcasts and paint. She also enjoys attending Bingo and meat raffles.