Family Practitioner Jaime Martinez, MD, looks forward to helping people achieve their highest level of overall health and well-being.
“I’m very straight forward. I want people to work with me to develop treatment plans and lifestyle changes to optimize their health,” he said. “I enjoy getting to know my patients and educating them about all aspects of healthcare.”
Dr. Martinez will provide care at the Charleston Walk-in Clinic, located in the Charleston Clinic East at 2040 Lincoln Ave., until construction of his new office in the building is complete around mid-October.
A Chicago native, Dr. Martinez enjoyed learning about the human body at an early age. As he grew older, his interest in medicine intensified when he realized that the physical body also has a soul and emotional responses have a profound affect on medical care as well. “In medicine, you have to treat both the body and the mind to help a person heal,” he said.
Following high school, he received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill. He worked for three years as a medical underwriter for an insurance company before entering medical school. Born to Mexican parents and fluent in Spanish, Dr. Martinez took advantage of an opportunity to begin medical school at UAG School of Medicine in Mexico. “It was an amazing learning experience. I saw diseases that you just don’t see in the United States, like tuberculosis and leprosy,” he said.
After two years, Dr. Martinez transferred to Ross University School of Medicine in New Brunswick, NJ, so he could complete his clinical rotations in the United States. To optimize his learning experience, he traveled to different areas for rotations, including Chicago, Cleveland Clinic, Miami and Puerto Rico. He completed his residency at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program this summer.
Dr. Martinez chose family practice because he realized going to Mexico that he enjoyed being able to relate to people and providing continuity of care. “The better you know the patient and family, the better able you are to figure out if there are deeper issues, such as emotional or psychological, as well as physical issues that are involved,” he said. Dr. Martinez recently moved to Charleston with his wife Psychiatrist Nicole Jones-Martinez, who is providing mental health care at Sarah Bush Lincoln.
For more information or to make an appointment with Dr. Martinez, call (217) 345-2211. Health Alliance, Personal Care, Blue Cross Blue Shield and most other insurance plans accepted.