New Longboat doctor provides personalized care for all aspects of life

Reed Medical Group welcomed a new member to its concierge clinic to expand options for women's health care on the island.

Dr. Mindy Ward is the newest addition to the internal medicine team at Reed Medical Group. With her background in osteopathic medicine, she plans to provide personalized health care that focuses on all aspects of life and prevents illnesses in the future.

Originally from Missouri, Ward has always been fascinated by the body. Knowing she wanted to become a doctor from a young age, she attended Kansas City University Medical School before moving to Sarasota for her residency at Sarasota Memorial Hospital five years ago.

Ward set out to become a concierge doctor after realizing the lack of opportunity to get to know your patients in a traditional medical setting. Her desire to provide more personalized care and grow stronger relationships with her patients aligns with her ideals as a doctor of osteopathic medicine. 

According to Ward, osteopathic medicine focuses on treating patients in all parts of life: body, mind and soul. It focuses on doing preventative care as early as possible in a patient’s life to extend their lifespan and make them as healthy as possible. 

Photo by Petra Rivera

“The basis of osteopathic medicine is that the body could heal itself if you gave it all the tools it needed,” said Ward. “While also concentrating on the physical aspects of life, I always ask people about their social health, how they exercise, their mental health and how they sleep. Through that, we can figure out what lifestyle changes we can do to help prevent future problems or heal current ones.”

After starting at Reed Medical Group in July, Ward is excited to bring this type of medicine onto the island, focusing specifically on women’s health and healthy aging.

She said that menopause is a greatly undertreated part of a woman’s life. Ward wants to acknowledge and inform all women throughout that transition in life to help them become the best version of themselves. Ward provides many preventative women’s care options such as pap smears and hormone replacement therapy. 

Along with making women’s health care more accessible, she hopes to be a go-to doctor on Longboat. Being a concierge doctor allows her to build strong relationships with her patients to treat them the best she can. She said this allows her to be more involved in a patient’s life such as teaming up with personal trainers, talking to family about hard medical topics and implementing supplements if her patients are interested. 

Ward said that her first month has been exactly what she had hoped for. Reed Medical Group's mission of providing accessible health care for Longboaters while implementing preventative care aligns with her career goals. She has loved meeting many Longboaters and is excited to continue to build her span of patients to help them live their healthiest lives.

“I absolutely became a physician because I love people,” said Ward. “There's no deeper privilege in my life and no better career, in my opinion, than having someone walk into the room and trust you with the depths of their being.”