October 12, 2006

Turlock - Two new Turlock family medicine physicians are on a first-name basis with their patients. To them, they’re Dr. Ken and Dr. Jen.

 

Kenneth Honsik, M.D., and his wife, Jennifer Houston, M.D., have joined the Romeo Medical Clinic at 1801 Colorado Ave., Suite 120, where all doctors go by their first names. The informality helps reduce the confusion of having three Dr. Romeos in the practice, Drs. Sam, Mike and Lisa Romeo. Dr. Chris Hawley is also on staff.

 

It also fits the clinic philosophy, Dr. Houston says. “The clinic feeling is inviting, relaxing and comfortable. It’s warm and personal and we try to take the extra time to get to know our patients.”  

The doctors are also on the medical staff of Emanuel Medical Center.

 

A California native from the Danville area, Dr. Houston graduated cum laude from UCLA in 1993 and from Northwestern University Medical School in 1997. She remained in the Chicago area for her family medicine residency at MacNeal Memorial Hospital and there met her future husband.

 

Dr. Honsik grew up near Chicago in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He graduated from DePauw University in Indiana, and obtained his medical degree from Rush Medical College, Chicago. After completing their family medicine residency at MacNeal, Drs. Honsik and Houston relocated to Southern California where Dr. Ken completed a year of fellowship training in Sports Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana. It was there that they met Dr. Sam Romeo, who was completing the same fellowship program.

 

Following the fellowship program, Dr. Honsik remained as a staff physician and sports medicine faculty member for five years, helping to train physicians in primary care sports medicine. He co-founded the fracture clinic there which instructed resident physicians on proper fracture care and rehabilitation. Drs. Honsik, Houston and Romeo have stayed in touch over the years and frequently talked about the possibility of practicing together and this summer the doctors and their two young children made the move to Turlock.

 

“We wanted to raise our children in a family atmosphere, where people get to know one another and you feel like part of the community,” Dr. Honsik says.

 

Dr. Honsik says family medicine comes first. “Sports medicine isn’t my main specialty. It’s additional training that I utilize everyday for all of my patients. When you treat everyone as an athlete, you find they get back to their activities more quickly.”

 

Dr. Houston selected family medicine because she “wanted to do something where I could get to know and treat the whole family and not work full-time while my children were small. I liked the idea of it being a broad spectrum, long-term relationship with multiple generations of families,” she says.

 

Drs. Honsik and Houston can be reached at (209) 216-3456.