Viavant joins EARH medical team

Dr. Peter Viavant has joined the staff at East Adams Rural Hospital (EARH) as a part time emergency room and clinic doctor, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Viavant worked as a family practitioner in Walla Walla for 20 years before retiring from the practice two years ago. Viavant has spent his retirement working in small emergency rooms for other rural hospitals across the state and the nation.

Viavant and his wife Robynn currently reside in Walla Walla, where they have raised three sons.

Viavant received his medical degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine and received an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He completed his residency in Salt Lake City and traveled to Micronesia with the Public Health Service to help hospitals there with basic health care.

Before working in the health care field, Viavant worked for about six years as a forest ranger and recreational planner, as well as serving as a firefighter for a rural fire district in Utah. Viavant said he has always enjoyed helping people, and that characteristic helped lead him to a medical profession.

“First I discovered I like working with people, and then with sick people who needed help,” Viavant said. “I like being in Ritzville, and whenever I’m free on Wednesdays, I’ll be here.”

Viavant currently works on Wednesday nights in the emergency room (ER) and spends Thursdays in the clinic. He is only scheduled for about two or three rotations a month, but hopes to expand his schedule because he enjoys working in the Ritzville community.

Viavant said he had spent most of his life driving past Ritzville and was pleasantly surprised at the history of the town, as well as the variety of restaurant establishments. He continued on to explain that when he works in other small towns, the town generally only has one restaurant.

As a former family practitioner, Viavant is accustomed to working with a wide spectrum of patients, as he worked with all ages and a wide variety of injuries. He also spent nearly 10 years working at the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Walla Walla and Tacoma, and it served as his major instructional training working with geriatric patients.

Aside from working at EARH, Viavant travels across the nation to assist at other hospitals. He works in ERs in Idaho, Washington, Michigan and Louisiana, but said he tries to return to the hospitals he enjoys the most as frequently as possible.

“The ones I like, I go back to more,” Viavant explained. “I like science and I like working with people as well.”

Viavant said the hospital staff has been welcoming and friendly, and he looks forward to spending more time in the Ritzville community. He is interested in the history of the town and looks forward to visiting the museums.

Viavant will work in the hospital multiple times a month and cover for staff during vacations. He said he looks forward to becoming more involved at the hospital, and believes there is potential for his wife and him to look into moving to the community in the future.