Behind the Stethoscope: The Heart of ERx
In 2025, we are highlighting the medical directors of our ERx team. Their commitment to rural health care is the driving force behind our organization Juan Gabriel Velázquez D.O. Medical School Graduation: 2011 Joined ERx: 2024 Current position: ER Director of Bacon County Hospital What inspired you to pursue a career in medicine? “I grew up in a household of doctors: my grandfather, my father, and also my mother’s family. We would go for medical mission trips for vacation. Seeing the impact my parents had on people during those trips, I just fell in love with medicine at a very young age. I even tried to rebel in college, but I always came back to medicine. I have been in love with it ever since Why did you choose to work in a rural ER? My grandfather had a coffee plantation and cattle ranches. I was often at the farm helping out and being in the countryside. In medical school, every aspect of medicine was enjoyable. With every rotation, I had a feeling that it was my favorite.Eventually, it got to a point where I realized that I liked it all. My father being an ophthalmologist, he kind of wanted me to go into ophthalmology. One day, I told him that I wanted to be a real doctor. It broke his heart a little bit and I decided to go into family medicine. At first, I was at the bigger hospitals in Michigan. Then I wanted to move a little bit closer to my family so I moved to Georgia. The further I went, the smaller the hospitals got, the more I enjoyed medicine. I always had a passion for emergency medicine ever since my rotations in medical school. As a physician you see results quicker and with my background…