Every health care journey should start with the basics. At NorthBay Healthcare, that means picking out your primary care team of professionals who are there to serve you and your family with everything from annual evaluations and flu shots to blood pressure checks and immunizations.

There are three Center for Primary Care locations — one in Green Valley, one in Fairfield and one in Vacaville. Each offers a number of physicians who specialize in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. Every physician is also partnered with a care team — a nurse practitioner and medical assistant who will assist on your health care journey.

Access to your care team has never been easier. Since the advent of the global pandemic, NorthBay Healthcare worked hard to make access to tele-health visits — both via telephone and video — simple and effective.

“Our goal is to complement regular visits with a platform of virtual health options. It’s all about making care available to our patients when they need it and where they want it.”
— Wayne Gietz

When it first launched on a system-wide basis in March, primary care physicians recorded 143 video visits. By the end of June, primary care’s 23 providers logged nearly 1,900 phone calls and nearly 1,600 video visits collectively for the month. The goal, going forward, is to provide 20 percent of all visits via tele-health.

“Our goal is to complement regular visits with a platform of virtual health options,” said Wayne Gietz, vice president of Ambulatory Services. “It’s all about making care available to our patients when they need it and where they want it.”

Appointments can be scheduled by calling (707) 646-5500, or visiting NorthBay.org/MyNorthBayDoc online. It’s also a one-stop place to check out test results or send a question to your care team.

Of course not everything can be done online. Physicals, immunizations and procedures still require an in-person visit.

Kevin Xunan, D.O., is a family medicine specialist at the Vacaville Center for Primary Care who also offers Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. So while he’s happy to handle a virtual visit when it’s most convenient for the patient, he’s also happy to schedule an in-person appointment for an OMM session or physical in his Vacaville office.

Many of his patients have returned to office visits, Dr. Xunan said, but some of his older patients and those with autoimmune issues have been hesitant to come in person. The video visits give them a way to stay connected and address concerns with him without compromising their health.

“At first, I was offering phone visits, and it worked, but video is better because I get visual feedback on the patient. I can see if they’ve got energy, or if they’re listless or depressed. It’s also more convenient for everyone, and once the patient is comfortable with it, they really appreciate it.”