When Neighborcare Health opened its Vashon clinic on Monday, most of the providers were familiar to island residents, but Dr. Jessica Wesch, the clinic’s medical director, is new to many on the island.

Formerly a Seattle resident, Wesch said she has deep roots on Vashon and has come to her family’s home in Ellisport for years. She and her family decided to move here several months ago, she said, after repeatedly asking, “What if we lived on Vashon?”

“We have been weekenders for a decade, and every Sunday night we would have the ferry line blues,” she added.

At the time of that blues, she was working at Swedish Medical Group’s Magnolia Primary Care, where her practice included primary and obstetrical care. She held that position for 12 years and lived in the neighborhood as well. In an online video for Swedish, she describes the experience as “small town medicine in a big town.”

In a conversation last week, she expressed that island life was a big draw in leaving that position.

“About the only thing that could have pulled me away was the opportunity to live on Vashon Island,” she said.

Wesch first started in health care by training as an herbalist. She later attended medical school at the University of Washington and completed her residency at Swedish Medical Center at its First Hill campus. She went into medicine hoping to be a “bridge person” between natural health and Western medicine, she said, and was interested in being part of the shift to a more integrative, holistic model of health care.

She has brought those interests to Vashon, where she said she will provide primary care as well as prenatal care, and will help patients deliver their babies with the provider of their choice off-island. After the birth, she can assist mothers with breastfeeding, as breastfeeding is an additional area of “strength and interest” for her.

Wesch was originally hired to work at the health center by CHI Franciscan before its leadership announced the decision to close the clinic. After that, Wesch, who left her Seattle job at the end of May, said she remained committed to practicing on the island and reached out to members of the Vashon-Maury Health Collaborative, who were working to bring a new provider to the island.

“I did not give up and go apply for a job in the city,” she said.

Wesch added that she believes that Neighborcare, particularly its commitment to providing care for all, will greatly benefit the island.

“This represents an incredible commitment to be of service,” she said.

She noted that many of the clinic’s previous physicians, including Gary Koch, Jeffrey HansPetersen and Scott Chaffin, are all returning to the clinic and that with Gail Fulton as well, islanders’ medical needs will be dealt with much as they had been before the recent changes to island health care.

“We are all excited to work together and offer continuity for patients,” she said.