Lots of places have doctors, but Chantilly Family Practice Center has many different types of doctors and services, all under one roof.
"Besides family practice doctors, we have our own neurologist, cardiologist, general surgeon, allergist, urologist, gastroenterologist and infectious-disease specialist," said Dr. Rajesh Mehra, owner and board-certified family practitioner. "And we'll be getting a dermatologist and OB-Gyn."
"You don't have to go all over town to see a specialist," he added. "And we have our own physical-therapy center, diagnostic area and urgent-care [facility] within the practice. There are family practice doctors, specialists and emergency-room facilities — but they're not usually all in the same place. We're different from 90 percent of the family practices."
Since 1988, the medical center was at Walney and Willard roads. But in November, it moved to a 6,000-square-foot building at 4437 Brookfield Corporate Drive, behind the Chantilly Post Office. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; phone 703-968-7277.
There are three, full-time, health-care providers, two physicians and two part-time physicians' assistants or nurse-practitioner equivalents, plus other personnel, for 15 staff members total. But various specialists also work there, each coming on particular days of the week. And Mehra is available, 24 hours a day, on a beeper for emergencies and consultations.
BESIDES TAKING CARE of individual patients, the center also has more than 250 corporate contracts. These clients include United and American Airlines, William Hazel Construction, UPS, Fed Ex and Raytheon.
"When their employees get injured, they come here," said Mehra. "And we also do drug and alcohol screening programs for companies." In addition, there are separate waiting rooms and nursing desks for industrial patients and family practice patients. That way, corporate patients coming directly from a grubby job site can feel comfortable arriving in their work clothes.
The center has two, fully equipped emergency rooms for minor emergencies, including cuts, bruises and fractures. The building is designed so that a particular door opens and paramedics can bring in patients on stretchers in a straight pathway to an emergency-room gurney.
These rooms may also be used for exams, as needed, but there are three other basic, exam rooms for walk-in patients, plus more rooms for examining people with appointments. There are even separate restrooms for drug screens where patients can't turn on the water in the sink to dilute a urine sample because it's controlled electronically.
Mehra noted that the center also has stress-test machines, which he called rare in family practice offices. There's a dermabrasion machine for skin-smoothing and a room for minor surgery where patients may be treated for things not requiring hospitalization, such as cysts, lumps and ingrown toenails.
There's a full-service, physical-therapy section with a rehabilitative physical therapist and specific, state-of-the-art equipment. It, too, has its own, separate entrance and waiting room. After all, asked Mehra, "If you have a 2 p.m. appointment for physical therapy, why should you have to wait in a room with people with illnesses?"
Chantilly Family Practice plans even more innovations in the future, including a nuclear camera to photograph the heart. "It's better than an x-ray and is usually only found in hospitals or cardiologists' offices," said Mehra. The center currently performs echocardiograms, which are ultrasounds of the heart. Skin care and cosmetic surgery, such as hair or tattoo removal, are also planned.
ON A RECENT FRIDAY, Amelia Waldon, 65, of Oakton was at the medical center to see a specialist. She and her 90-year-old mother have been patients there for the last six years.
"I'm here today because I have lupus and they're doing a follow-up exam to check my condition," she explained. "And then I'll see a heart specialist [because of the lupus]. They recommended both a neurologist and a cardiologist to me."
As far as Waldron is concerned, Chantilly Family Practice and its doctors are great. "I like Dr. Mehra because of the way he took care of my mom, an amputee diabetic," she said. "She had a stroke last June, and he was there for her."
Waldron said she, too, is doing well, and she's been pleased with her visits to the center. "I like the way I've been treated when I come here," she said. "It's more of a homey environment."
Dora Prah of Centreville's Sully Station community was also at Chantilly Family Practice, that day. She'd just received an allergy shot. She's been a patient there since 1992 and Mehra is her primary physician.
"They're friendly and their services are good," she said. She'd also recommend the center to others. Said Prah: "It's nice to work with a doctor that you know and, if you need a referral, they'll refer you to a specialist."
So after 11 years as a patient, she intends to keep coming. "The doctors and nurses are good and the receptionists are friendly," she said. After all, she added, "You want someone who listens to you and takes care of what you need."