Dr. Robert Paul Rieger, MD

While Anacortes is my home and has been since 1993, I was born in Montana and raised in St. Maries, a small town in northern Idaho. My time in western Washington began with my undergraduate education at Seattle University. Education wasn't all that Seattle University provided for me -- it was there I met my life-mate and wife, Erin. I attended medical school at the University of Washington. My family medicine residency was completed at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colorado.

In medical school I was fortunate enough to do my family medicine rotation at my current practice. It was here that I realized I was a family doctor. Why? Honestly, some of the reasons can't be defined and can only be described as a level of comfort that I felt here that wasn't present in any other medical school rotation. There were also two other distinct reasons. The first is my practice allows me to provide long-term continuity of care. The second is about the relationships that I am able to …develop with my patients. These two aspects of family medicine allow me to help my patients through the various stages of life and the complex healthcare decisions they must make. I feel privileged to be a part of the lives of many wonderful patients over the years, being present at births, caring for extended families, and being part of the process of death and dying.

Outside of medicine my world mostly revolves around home and family. While my wife and I are exploring how to live with an empty nest, our focus continues to be around our three wonderful daughters. Otherwise I enjoy house projects, traveling, exercising my two dogs, attempting to golf and trying to change my brown thumb to green.