I'm Michael Hurtado. I'm a general surgeon at Rutland Regional Medical Center. When I
was at the University of Miami undergrad, they required us to do community service;
and so I already had an idea that I wanted to go into the medical field. So, I volunteered in the
pediatric cardiothoracic surgery ICU at Miami Children's Hospital; and that's when I realized
that the interaction between the patients and the surgeon and the impact that a doctor can have in
people's lives. So, that's really what started me off looking at medicine as a career path. The
biggest influence of my life had been my parents. They came to this country without anything,
without any money, and were able to become successful people; and then they put that same
energy and time into me and so I've learned from them what it takes to make my family successful
and myself successful in the community as well as a way to contribute to the community. I think the
biggest moments in dealing with patients and their families is counseling them. It's talking to them,
explaining what's going on, giving them the rationale behind the decisions we're making
so that they're not in the dark, so that they understand what the treatment course is going
to be and what to expect. That's been the most significant interaction I've had with with
patients and their families. Collaboration and communication is a vital part about practicing
at Rutland Regional Medical Center. The most satisfying encounter that I had was a patient
who was not an operative candidate for surgery; however, due to good communication between primary
care provider, myself and other providers that the patient was interacting with ended up having
a great outcome and avoiding surgery altogether. My family and I relocated here from Miami Florida
in 2018 – mainly because when I came to interview here and I came to spend time in the community I
could feel that sense of community. I can tell that this is a place where people care about
what happens, and I thought it would be a better place to raise my children and set my family up
for success. I have several hobbies and interests. Hunting, fishing are amongst them. I enjoy hiking,
something that I can easily do with my family; but mainly spending time with my family on my
time off is my most important activity that I can do when I'm not working here.
I think my primary objective here as a surgeon and a caregiver is to help people make the decision
whether they need surgery or not. I want people to come to me to find out if they need surgery – not
to come to me just to have surgery. I want to be involved in their care, but I want to make sure
that they have the best possible outcome. Caring for our patients and customers in a compassionate
and professional manner. That's important to me because being a patient myself, I've experienced
this where the doctor walks into the room or where he comes to see you, gives you very little
explanation, tells you you need something, walks away and then you're left with all these doubts or
questions about what is important or whether or not even have to go through this. So to
me introducing that portion of compassion and that the personability of communication makes
it more of a journey that we take together, the patient and I take together. then just me in a
very jaded way telling them what they need and not really demonstrating that I actually care.