Local Doctor Comes Home

After providing health care in the villages of Africa with the Peace Corps, the experience gave Dr. Valerie Voss new insight as to how she wanted to practice medicine.

“I think an experience like that changes your perception of the world and gives you a greater appreciation of all the resources we have here (in the U.S.) and enhances my desire to do community work here,” she said.

Voss, a Will County native, chose to move home and open a primary care office for adults in Joliet. Her focus is for patients to feel calm and welcome, so they may partner with Voss and the medical team in order to focus on the patients’ overall health and wellness.

One example is that the office environment will have a spa-like feel. Another is that Voss intends to keep the practice small. Voss explained that she does not want her patients to feel shuffled through the whole healthcare process.

Voss believes that patients must be included in their overall healthcare. Part of that is having a dialogue about the patients’ options. The villages of Africa showed Voss showed her a world without healthcare choices.

Within her own practice, she does not want to take the vast choices for granted. Voss intends to take the time for one-on-one discussion with patients about what their choices may be.

Voss attended medical school and completed her residency at the University of Chicago. She holds a master’s in social work and a certificate in health administration and policy. Her undergraduate degree is in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan.

She is a graduate of Joliet West High School. She also attended the now-closed St. Joseph Grade School.

The Voss Health Alliance is located at 823 Infantry Drive near the corner of Black Road in Joliet. Doors opened Nov. 1. However, the ribbon cutting is Tuesday with the Joliet Chamber of Commerce.

The public is invited to an open house Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.