GILLETTE, Wyo. — After getting to know the Gillette community, Casper-based diagnostic radiologist Dr. Joseph McGinley is increasing his office hours fivefold in Gillette.
For the past few years, McGinley’s office, at 407 S Medical Arts Court, Suite E2, has been open on Wednesdays. It will now be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 11.
McGinley, who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering, a PhD in physiology and an MD from Temple University in Pennsylvania and completed a residency in radiology and a fellowship in musculoskeletal and cardiovascular imaging at Stanford University in California, said he loves Wyoming for its community-centric culture, tax structure and natural beauty.
He wants to give back to the people of Gillette.
“I love the grit of the people here [in Gillette],” he said. “It’s a very hardworking community; that’s for sure.”
Many Gillette residents, including people who are in their 80s and 90s, have traveled to Casper for procedures, and the travel has been challenging for them, he said. McGinley has a son in middle school who has played sports in Gillette, and some of the people whom he met when he first came to Wyoming are Gillette residents.
Patients range from young children through older adults, he said. Many of his patients are elite athletes, he said. He himself races motocross and does mountaineering and mountain climbing.
His adventures don’t stop there though.
McGinley said that, unlike many doctors who prefer to consistently use the same tools once they learn them, he likes to learn the latest technology.
“Once you get comfortable doing something, most doctors don’t like to change how they’re doing it,” he said. “I like to change all the time. As long as it’s improving and making it better for patients, I’m willing to try.”
He said that as a result, product manufacturers like to approach him at trade shows. He said he was among the first few dozens of people in the world to use the Sonex Health UltraGuideCTR for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Traditionally, a patient would go to a surgeon who would open up the skin, all the way through the palm and then cut the ligament that’s pressing on the nerve before closing the opening, he said.
Doctors at Mayo Clinic developed the Sonex Health UltraGuideCTR.
With this tool, McGinley said he can make a tiny nick in the skin, use ultrasound to guide it under the ligament that needs to be cut and then make the cut, without the patient needing anesthesia, nerve blockers or stitches. They can return to work within days instead of weeks.
He was the third person in the world to use the Sonex Health UltraGuide TFR, which treats “trigger finger” in a similar manner.
McGinley’s startup company in Casper has more than 135 patents.
When he was volunteering as an engineering adviser at the University of Wyoming, his team and the university co-developed, build, design, patent and commercialize an augmentative reality device for ultrasound to make his procedures easier. Now, when he’s doing a procedure, he can view the ultrasound and keep his eyes on the patient at the same time. Traditionally, doctors have to look back and forth between the ultrasound screen and the patient.
Dr. Garry Becker, a retired primary care doctor, said McGinley treated him when he tore a posterior tibial tendon 11 years ago. That tendon makes the arch of the foot, and without it, it’s difficult to walk, he said. Becker’s right foot had swollen, and he was in a lot of pain. He said he wasn’t sure he’d ever again wear a shoe on his right foot.
Becker said that after undergoing a platelet-rich plasma procedure to heal the tendon, under McGinley’s care, he hasn’t had any pain in 10 years.
“He makes a difference wherever he is,” Becker said.
To learn more about the office, call 866-678-4699 or visit www.themcginleyclinic.com. The team’s also hiring a nurse practitioner. The office takes all insurances, McGinley said.
