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Over 40 years ago (1969) three young physicians were finishing their post graduate residency
at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit Michigan and contemplating their future. These doctors,
Carl E. Bartecchi, MD, Charles A. Hanson, MD, and Charles F. Salerno, MD shared a common
vision to start a multi-specialty clinic somewhere in the United States. Fortunately the founders
of Southern Colorado Clinic selected Pueblo, Colorado.
In the late 1960’s Pueblo West was being heavily marketed with chartered flights from Midwest
and Eastern cities as a means to entice people to move to Pueblo, Colorado. It was in one of
these newspaper ads that got the attention of these doctors who flew to Pueblo in 1969. What
they found was a city sorely in need of more primary and local specialty care and after that visit
they shared their dream with four other doctors. A few months later a second flight to Pueblo
sealed the deal and the vision of starting a multi-specialty clinic in Pueblo became the dream of
seven doctors.
The Clinic became a reality by the summer of 1970 with the first intrepid physicians, Dr. Carl
Bartecchi, Dr. Rodney Dwyer and Dr. Larry Walls setting up practice. The second wave of
pioneers came in 1971 and included Dr. Charles Bedard, Dr. Val Cichon and Dr. Charles
Salerno. Then in the summer of 1972 Dr. Charles Hanson, Dr. Klaus Anselm and Dr. Muryl
Laman arrived, rounding out the original seven founders. All the above doctors trained at the
Henry Ford Hospital, except for Dr. Laman who trained at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Harold
Frost, chairman of the Orthopedics Department at Henry Ford Hospital, joined the group in
1973.
In the first twenty years of business the Clinic grew to twenty five physicians, two medical
facilities, an Urgent Care and started an HMO insurance company. Recruiting physicians to
the Clinic has been a long-term process over the past 40 years and more than 120 doctors of
varying specialties have come to serve Pueblo and southern Colorado’s population because of
the Clinic.
Southern Colorado Clinic is proud to have one of the original visionaries, Dr. Charles Hanson, continuing in his practice as Orthopedic Surgeon.
Today, the Clinic offers the services of Family Practice, Pediatrics, Orthopedics, Rheumatology,
Occupational Medicine, Urgent Care, Physical Therapy, Bone Densitometry and Radiology with
fourteen doctors, three nurse practitioners and three physical therapists. Both our northside and
southside locations are conveniently located for primary care and urgent care patients.  
The Southern Colorado Clinic was also a pioneer several years ago in another way by
integrating electronic medical records with lab and x-ray, prescriptions, billing, collections and
scheduling in one seamless program allowing doctors to focus on patient care and improving
communications among all the departments. The Clinic is very proud to have served the people of Pueblo and southern Colorado with excellent medical care all these years, as well as going forward into the future. |
