In the weeks after she opened her geriatric medicine practice in Fern Park with JSA Medical Group, Tonya Young-Henley, MD, found herself treating fall injuries in one patient after another.
One had tripped at home. Another had fallen at the grocery store. But her practice was able to go beyond just treating those patients, by booking an eight-week fall-prevention course for seniors at the community center adjoining her clinic.
“This truly is total care,” said Young-Henley, who joined JSA in September 2015 and opened the Fern Park practice three months later. “We are able to identify the needs in the community and respond in a more proactive way — to serve not just our patients, but also the broader community.”
It’s that approach that’s given Young-Henley new energy after some two decades of practicing in the Orlando area. Her clinic’s adjacent community center hosts yoga sessions, exercise classes and even line dancing events. It also provides a space for physician talks, such as a recent one by a local podiatrist on foot care for diabetics.
“The programs we offer are free and open to the community,” Young-Henley said. “We even have some current patients who are professional writers and teachers, and we allow them to come in and offer a class. It’s truly an amazing tool that JSA has put into this clinic.”
The clinic’s services include disease management for geriatric patients with very complex issues. When even monthly visits with Young-Henley are not enough to keep a patient’s issues in check, nurses will call the patient as often as once a week for issues like uncontrolled heart disease or diabetes. The clinic also works with a local pharmacist to help low-income patients get access to the medicines they need.
“JSA believes their clinics should be physician-run but geared toward the community and its needs,” Young-Henley said. “The novelty of what they are putting together is exciting to me. When you’ve been practicing for a long time, it’s easy to feel stagnant. But this is an opportunity to start something from the ground up and actually be part of the community. It’s been amazing to see how the patients respond and tell us what their needs are.”
For Young-Henley, the clinic’s work also connects with a deeply rooted conviction.
“I believe that no matter how poor you are, you deserve good medicine,” she said. “That’s exactly the kind of care I’ve been allowed to give with the resources we have here.”
Young-Henley’s passion for medicine as mission stems from her childhood. Raised by Adventist missionaries, she lived in East Africa from age 6 to age 10. Her mother taught math at the college in Arusha, Tanzania, while her father, a pastor, traveled the area ministering to local communities.
“I was just traveling around with them, seeing the country and getting to know the people,” she said. “During that time, Idi Amin was in power, so there were always a lot of guns around and the situations around border crossings were scary. I understand that now; as a kid, you didn’t realize how dangerous it was.”
While the family was in Africa, Young-Henley’s mother fell ill and was admitted to the closest hospital, in Nairobi, Kenya. The family rushed back to the United States. Her mother was ultimately diagnosed with lupus and underwent a kidney transplant at the UF Health Transplant Center in Gainesville.
The experience of witnessing her mother’s treatment piqued Young-Henley’s own interest in medicine. She finished high school at Forrest Lake Academy in Apopka, and went on to complete the premed curriculum at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala. She attended the University of Florida College of Medicine, followed by a residency at Florida Hospital.
After her training, Young-Henley spent 15 years with Family Physicians Group, where she transitioned into geriatric medicine and continued to round in the hospital setting.
In her current practice, Young-Henley relishes the opportunity to spend more time with her patients and focus exclusively on the senior population.
“They allow you more time with each patient, because they realize the patients’ issues are more complex,” she said. “From the time they come in the door and are greeted, we’re really focused on understanding everything that’s going on with their health. We have a lab here to draw their bloodwork, and we’ve been able to catch issues simply through something they mention to the MA while getting their blood drawn.”
Young-Henley also gives talks on topics like diabetes at other community locations.
“Even though a lot of these seniors have medical care, it’s different when you talk to them outside of a medical office,” she said. “They bring you all these questions they’ve never been able to get answered, and we always end up talking about things beyond the topic I’m there to address. It’s a chance to really hear about their needs.”
Beyond the local community, Young-Henley has traveled for mission trips to Mexico and Jamaica. She is slated to return to Africa this month for a mission trip to serve the Masai people in Nairobi, Kenya.
Joining her on the trip are her three children: Robert III, 16, Taimane, 14, and Brenden, 11.
“I’m trying to bring them up with to show the same love and desire to help people,” she said.
Young-Henley is married to Robert Henley Jr., a robotics teacher. In addition to spending time with her family, she enjoys fishing, hiking, canoeing and spending time on the Florida beaches.
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