Family medicine resident finds home away from home in Beulaville

BEULAVILLE — Dr. Kimberly Biichle took something of a “non-traditional” path to becoming a family medicine resident at Goshen Medical in Beulaville. A native of southern Florida and of indigenous heritage, she said she often saw a lot of people who couldn’t afford medical care while growing up.

Once she decided to become a doctor, she originally worked in the obstetrics/gynecology field, but said she ultimately found that unfulfilling. “I decided I wanted to be able to treat men, women and children of all ages,” she told Duplin Journal.

She started out working for Hyster-Yale Materials Handling in Greenville, but felt “like a fish in the ocean” with the other doctors who worked there.

“Through that, I met someone from Beulaville,” she explained. “It was beautiful how I discovered the rural family medicine residency program and became a part of it.”

East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and ECU Health launched the Rural Family Medicine Residency Program in 2021, which equips physicians with specialized training in caring for patients in rural and underserved communities. Residents who are part of the program spend one year at ECU Health Hospital in Greenville, and then two years in a family practice office either in Beulaville or Ahoskie.

“When I was at Hyster-Yale, I met people from Ahoskie and from Duplin,” Dr. Biichle said, “and I tried to see through them what each town is like.”

At first, Ahoskie was her first choice, but she said she prayed on it, and ultimately chose Duplin.

She now lives in Beulaville and raves about her church family at Beulaville Presbyterian Church, where Dr. Carl Pate of Goshen Medical’s Beulaville office also attends. “I grew up in a small town, and Beulaville kind of reminds me of home,” Dr. Biichle said. “Everyone knows everyone.”

Biichle is even hoping to sign a contract to stay on in Duplin after her residency, like fellow graduate of the program, Dr. Jim Porquez, who now practices at the multi-specialty clinic in Kenansville.

“One thing I just sincerely love is that most people here are hog farmers, work for someplace like Butterball or they’re truck drivers, but there are a lot of immigrants also,” Dr. Biichle said. “You don’t have a large setting where you can refer to others. Most of the people in need, there’s a humbleness to them. You don’t see entitlement very much around here.”

She said the intimacy of getting to know patients also keeps her wanting to stay and practice family medicine in Duplin County.

“What I’ve seen, both objectively and speaking with other physicians, is that we all love serving in a rural setting, but what I love especially about a small town is that people keep coming back,” she said.

Dr. Biichle said she likes that Goshen has a sliding pay scale to help uninsured or underinsured patients, and that there’s a pharmacy on-site. “Our pharmacy is able to get prescriptions sometimes that are really expensive for just dollars,” she said.

She’s also passionate about caring for the elderly, a passion she curated while working in a retirement community in Florida. “I don’t think we talk about that enough — talking to our elders, finding out what are their goals, etc.,” she said. “You have to do advance care planning, make end-of-life decisions. That’s really important.”

Dr. Biichle has been in the Beulaville office since July of last year, and said Beulaville is her home now. “I love Cabin Lake,” she said. “I like to lay out on a blanket there and read. I love fellowshipping with local people. I love our neighbors. That’s the main thing I like about Beulaville, the community.”