Falls Community Health Welcomes New Chief Medical Officer

Jun 30, 2014

Dr. Jennifer Tinguely has joined Falls Community Health as the clinic's first on-staff Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Tinguely is a Sioux Falls native who graduated from the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota in 2010. Over the past two years, she was contracted to work at Falls Community Health through the Family Practice Residency Program. Prior to her medical training, she received a master of public health degree from Boston University. She worked for four years in the public health arena in New York City before moving back to South Dakota to receive her medical degree.

"Our community has identified an increasing need for affordable, quality primary health care over the past several years," said Jill Franken, Public Health Director. "Falls Community Health responded with expanded services to meet the needs of patients receiving care at our sites. But as the need increased, we also had an opportunity to look at our staffing structure. While providers at Falls Community Health had primarily been contracted in the past, we are now able to employ providers. We are so pleased to introduce Dr. Jenny Tinguely to the Sioux Falls community."

In addition to appointing Dr. Tinguely as Chief Medical Officer, Falls Community Health also hired four advanced practice providers: Charlotte Dohn, APN; Judy Jacobsen, PA/APN; Whitney White, APN; and Karissa Zimmer, PA.

"We want to provide an open door to primary health services for Sioux Falls residents," said Dr. Tinguely. "I am excited to join the Sioux Falls Health Department and Falls Community Health in meeting health care needs of our residents. In addition, we are looking at the overall health of our community. There is a wealth of public health research to help us develop proven, community-based strategies that will help us live well as a community."

In recent years, Falls Community Health has expanded medical services, dental services, and mental health services; added a homeless health care program; opened three school-based clinics to serve the neighborhoods of Hawthorne, Hayward, and Terry Redlin Elementary schools; and initiated Live Well Sioux Falls, a citywide collaboration to create a more vibrant, active and livable community.

(photo courtesy of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader)