Jan Crean, MD, FACOG, (center) with her staff (from left) Patsy Prosser, Becky Peterson, and Ursula Ingram. (T-G Photo by Doug Dezotell) [Click to enlarge]

Obstetrician Jan Crean started practicing with the Bedford County Medical Center in August 2007, becoming the second board certified OB-GYN to join the medical staff since Community Health Services bought the hospital.

"BCMC and CHS are committed to making it possible for people not to have to leave the county to get the care they need," Crean said. "We're getting a brand new hospital, so you don't have to go outside the community to get excellent care. We have board certified doctors here who practice endocrinology, cardiology, surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. We're here because we love what we do and we want to keep serving our patients."

Crean was working in Tullahoma seeing her OB-GYN patients in her office there before being asked to make the move to BCMC. She moved to Tennessee in 2002 from Pennsylvania where she had an OB-GYN practice for more than seven years.

"Pennsylvania is abysmal for OB-GYNs because of the outrageous costs of malpractice insurance and the third party payers," Crean said. "So many good doctors were leaving the state and going to practice elsewhere. I came to Tennessee on Memorial Day weekend in 2002, and moved to Tullahoma."

Crean's office, located in Suite K of the Medical Arts Building, 841 Union St., is staffed by office manager Patsy Prosser, coder and biller Becky Peterson, and LPN Ursula Ingram. She is in her office in Shelbyville on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and has set aside Fridays for surgery. She sees patients in Tullahoma on Wednesdays.

"I love my staff and my patients love my staff," Crean said, "We have a cohesiveness that works well for us. We are all DIY Girls (do-it-yourself), so if something needs to be done - we get it done. And one thing our patients like is the fact that if you call our office you get a live person, not some machine."

Crean, who was raised in Philadelphia, received her undergraduate degree in English Literature and Theatre in 1974 from Middlebury College in Vermont. After graduation she went to work in the theatre, even becoming a union member of the Actors Equity Association. She worked in the theater in New York, in regional theatre, and touring companies from 1975 until 1982.

"I was an actress/singer who moved well," Crean said. "But, I made myself a promise that if I was not on Broadway by the time I was 30 I'd rethink my life. I didn't realize what my specific interest was. Here's a message for youth today -- try! You don't know what you're capable of until you try.

"So....in 1983 I went back to school. I decided to go to the University of Pennsylvania to get all my math and science classes, all the pre-med prerequisites. And then I went off to med school at the Medical College of Pennsylvania."

Crean did her residency at York Hospital in York, Pa., and then went back home to Philadelphia to practice obstetrics and gynecology.

"OB-GYN chose me," Crean said. "I was doing my rotations in med school and the chief resident had me do a delivery. I decided right then that this is what I have to do. I love surgery, but I don't like blood. But, I love to make people well. It's just a gift you can't thank God enough for."

Crean refers to herself as "a Philly girl," and still owns a house back in her hometown.

"If you want a real steak sandwich, you have to come to Philly," she said.

To contact Crean, call her office in Shelbyville at 685-5521 or in Tullahoma at (931) 455-1177.