Out of the white coat? In the case of Dr. Rhonda Wallace it doesn’t quite fit. For much of the last two decades, the board-certified family medicine specialist who joined Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Primary Care in August has spent even her off hours in a white coat. Or sometimes scrubs.
The Long and Winding Road
Though born to be a physician, Dr. Wallace is the first to say it was life that charted her course — and the course was long.
As a young single parent with two small girls, she saw nursing as “a good, solid profession,” she says. So she set her sights on a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, graduating with the degree from the University of Wyoming, completing an internship in the cardiac intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic and eventually gaining a position in cardiac inpatient care at a medical center in Bismarck, North Dakota.
“It was awesome!” she says. “I loved being a nurse.” Over the course of a 12-hour shift, she got to know her patients as people, and the close observation required taught her a lesson that she says has served her well: “Listening and watching, you pick up a lot of things.”
Plus, she says, high-level skilled nursing in such settings confers a lot of autonomy within its scope of practice, and the opportunity to perform complex procedures like removing chest tubes sparked in her a desire to learn and do more.
Six years in, she probably would have headed straight for medical school. But much as she loved medicine, she loved her daughters more. Then in high school, one was captain of the swim team, the other an all-state soccer star. Uprooting them was out of the question.
A Master of Physician Assistant Studies seemed the ideal short-term solution. To stay local, Dr. Wallace signed up for a two-year degree program at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, which allowed her to take online courses while completing rotations with local physicians and required her to be on-campus for only 16 weeks.
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All In
During her time in Grand Forks, 250 miles away, her now-husband, Robert Christensen, an archaeologist by profession, would move in along with his own daughter to help keep the Bismarck household running smoothly.
As she pursued her dream, “they all gave up something,” she says, thinking back gratefully.
Dr. Wallace worked for the next seven years as a certified physician assistant, including in emergency and urgent care settings at Mayo Clinic Health System. She served as an adjunct professor in the PA program from which she received her degree as well.
As soon as her younger daughter had graduated from college, she finally took the opportunity to go to medical school.
“I literally left the next day,” she says.
She admits her first semester at Saint James School of Medicine in Anguilla was no picnic. Returning home for semester break exhausted, she began to question her career choice.
Her family wouldn’t hear of it, she remembers with a laugh.
“Whatever happens,” her daughter told Robert as the end of the break approached, “you make sure Mom gets back on the plane.”
She did, and she successfully completed medical school.
An M.D. in hand, the new physician and her husband headed to Florence, South Carolina, where she completed her medical training at the McLeod Family Residency Program.
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Laying Down Roots
The decision to lay down roots in the Lowcountry came fairly easily. Certain they were ready to escape cold weather for good, the couple considered Florida. But Robert, who had graduated from high school in Mount Pleasant and attended The Citadel, was able to tip the scale. They bought a house on Hogg Island and happily settled in, relishing the chance to hop in their kayaks or on their road bikes whenever they liked.
Though they’re new to kayaking, road biking is a longtime passion. To wit, last summer Robert built — from scratch! — a camper van with room for three, count ‘em, three, bikes beneath the bed. In the vehicle they can travel with ease to favorite cycling routes and events, among them the three-day Bike Ride Across Georgia Spring Tune-Up Ride at Sunflower Farm east of Atlanta.
Topping their travel plans for summer 2020 was a five-week cross-country road trip out to Wyoming and North Dakota and back through Canada and upstate New York to visit family and friends. COVID-19, of course, put that on hold.
Typically, the Wallace-Christensen clan gathers two or three times a year, but for now FaceTime has to do. Virtual visits keep the physician in touch with her daughter Danelle and three grandchildren in Kansas City and her daughter Kyrsten, a second-year family medicine resident in Syracuse, New York.
She and her husband have backpacked in Glacier National Park and, closer to home, enjoy long walks on Hilton Head beaches. Birdwatching has become a happy pastime, too.
“All of the colorful birds in South Carolina are much different than the bird species in the Dakotas,” Dr. Wallace notes. “For me, being outdoors is cleansing for body, mind and soul. It gives me a chance to live in the moment and connect with myself.”
Looking for a partner in maintaining good health?
Dr. Wallace is a board-certified family medicine specialist at Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Primary Care. Schedule an appointment by calling 843-706-8690.
