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Covenant welcomes Dr. Monica Campitruz -
Covenant welcomes Dr. Monica Campitruz
CRUISING DOWN THE STREET - The City of Levelland has contracted the services of Connected Nation as they have been traveling up and down the Levelland roadways conducting a broadband survey this week. City Manager Brandon Anderson says the purpose of the survey is to put Levelland and potentially Hockley County in a better position for state funding opportunities in the future for broadband connection. (Photo courtesy of the City of Levelland)
WARM WELCOME - Dr. Monica Zoncanato Campitruz will begin working at Covenant Health Family Medicine Clinic East in April. Campitruz will be practicing as a Family Practice OB. She was born and raised in Cuba before attending medical school and residency in Brazil. After moving to America, she attended a residency and graduated from Hoboken Medical Center in New Jersey. Coming from a larger care center and setting, she is looking forward to working in a smaller setting and developing connections with the community. (Photo courtesy of Covenant Health Levelland)
Covenant Health Family Medicine Clinic East will have a new Family Practice OB in April. While her start date is still undetermined, Monica Zoncanato Campitruz is prepared to begin her new position in the community.
Campitruz was born and raised in Cuba before moving to Brazil and attending medical school where she graduated as an OBGYN. She worked as an OBGYN in Brazil for about eight years before moving to America and has 22 years of experience in the medical field.
“I moved to America in 2014 and here I just got my diploma back and then I went to residency in New Jersey,” Campitruz said. “Last year I graduated from Hoboken Medical Center and my whole life I have been doing family medicine/OBGYN and that’s what I like.”
Campitruz knew from a young age she wanted to follow in her parent’s footsteps by entering the medical field.
She chose to go into the OBGYN field after aiding a pregnant woman in a Brazilian village get to the nearest hospital over an hour away.
“She came to me, the midwife with the husband on a horse and they knocked on my window,” Campitruz said. “And then I just went and chose to help deliver the baby, but I had no idea how to deliver babies. I put the lady in labor in my car because we didn’t have an ambulance that was available. Bottom line the baby was born en route to the hospital and then I noticed the baby came out looking different. The fact is that the baby was in a very weird position and apparently the bumpy road put the baby in a position where it could come out.”
The physician at the hospital spoke with Campitruz and asked her if she was interested in the OBGYN field. While she wasn’t interested, this incident directly influenced her decision to become anOBGYN.
Campitruz chose to come to Levelland primarily because it is a small city.
“My husband was the one that was looking with me at places. A place that we could raise a family and at the same time we have the opportunity for our children to go to university,” Campitruz said. “It was a combination of things, but to be honest when I decided to apply for my license, Texas was the first place and after that I didn’t think about any other place because I felt it was a good place to stay.”
Campitruz is excited to become a part of the Levelland community and make personal connections with her patients.
“You get to know everybody in the family. From the dog to parent,” Campitruz said. “And unfortunately, urban medicine is bad because you don’t create any attachment and linkage with your patients.”
Campitruz believes there are too many patients for urban doctors to create a relationship with.
“In urban medicine we are very detached, we don’t create linkage with our patients, we are in a rush constantly, we barely look at our patients and that’s why I say it’s a disservice because you are not offering anything of quality and you are not part of your patients life and it should be like that.”
Campitruz described rural medicine as having a slower pace than urban medicine.
“In rural medicine you can accomplish more. The community is smaller, everybody knows everybody. You have time, you get to know, you can deliver slowly,” Campitruz said. “You don’t need to rush. When you are practicing rural medicine, you are going to see that family from the newborn till the one that is dying. It’s a quality we should really really come back to.”
Campitruz described physicians going door to door sipping coffee with patients as the real medicine.
“The reason why you became a physician is because of that,” Campitruz said. “It’s not because you are going to become a millionaire or it’s not because you are going to be the one discovering something new, because those are the zebras and we have far more horses than zebras.”
Campitruz is passionate about rural medicine and the opportunities it brings to create a sense of community between doctors and patients.
“Rural medicine is the closest medicine, is a community medicine is the one thing that is really really closer to the real physician and the real family and the real patient,” Campitruz said.
Campitruz described Levelland as calm and enjoys the lack of background noise that is present in large cities.
“Even the air that you breathe smells different,” Campitruz said. “And at the same time, you are still close to a big center so that contrast is just very enticing.”
Campitruz is familiar with practicing medicine in rural settings and enjoys it more than urban medicine.
“I am very used to rural medicine; this is nothing new. I have been in even smaller cities and settings,” Campitruz said. “I even worked in a village in tribal medicine. So, to me rural medicine is nothing strange, it’s something really common.”