Dr. Melissa Michelle Jones, MD

My Specialty and Why I Chose It

I am an Emergency Medicine Physician. This means that I have been trained to treat many different medical problems in an acute setting. I chose this specialty because I liked treating a wide variety of diseases. During medical school I enjoyed many of my rotations - pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, medicine, and psychiatry. In the Emergency Department I get to treat people with problems in all of these specialties - which I love!

I find that many problems that we deal with in Emergency Medicine are quite preventable. Obesity and the resulting ailments are quite possibly the most preventable illnesses. The diabetes and hypertension that often accompany obesity result in quite a few emergency room visits. Therefore, I recommend that people work on prevention to avoid the Emergency Department (ED) visit. We are here for you 24-7, but it’s scary and an inconvenience to the patient to have to make that ED visit. I recommend and encourage …people to work closely with their primary physician on preventative care. Exercise, eat healthy, lose weight if necessary, take your medications to control hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes. Avoid alcohol and get adequate amounts of rest and you may be able to avoid a visit to the Emergency Department.

My Tenure with Kaiser Permanente

I have been with Kaiser Permanente since 2009. In my time here I have come to appreciate the wonderful colleagues that I have to work with - happy, genuinely nice people.

I chose to work at Kaiser Permanente because I think it is a fantastic health system. As an Emergency Physician I often need to consult experts in every imaginable field of medicine, and Kaiser has them! The comprehensive care that Kaiser has available for it’s patients is outstanding. The electronic medical record and online access to x-rays and CT scans are an excellent resource when performing patient care duties. The primary care physician for each patient is a key resource in providing maintenance health care and keeping patient healthy and emergency free. While all patients are glad that an Emergency Department is available for immediate care, no one really wants to be in one. Be sure to visit your primary care physician regularly to ensure that your blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight are well controlled. Many of the diseases I see in the Emergency Department, such as strokes, heart attacks, diabetic complications are because blood pressure, blood sugar and obesity are out of control!

On a Personal Note. . .

I grew up on the California Central Coast. I went to college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (close to home). When I graduated I was not really sure what I wanted to do when I grew up so I joined Teach For America and taught High School in Weslaco, Texas. Quite an experience! Learned a lot about the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and teaching, but decided that ultimately I really wanted to be a doctor. I went to medical school at UC Davis School of Medicine. It was a great education and made a lot of life long friends. Then I decided that I needed to complete my tour of California and try out Southern California. I moved to Long Beach and completed my three year residency at a Level 1 trauma center in Los Angeles. After three years I had had enough of the traffic and smog (but the weather was fantastic!) and decided that I really liked the Sacramento area, so I moved back and started work at Kaiser.

In my free time I spend time with my boyfriend and our dogs - Rocky (Rottweiler), Sparky (King Charles Spaniel), and Sadie (Bull Mastiff). We love to cook, work on the house, spend time with friends and family. Now that I’m done with residency I thought I would have more time to ride my bike and get exercise, but it’s still a struggle to make time for it all!