Area Native Returns to Sidney & Joins Bassett's Health Center
Cooperstown, N.Y. – "I moved back home and back to Bassett because I love the rural lifestyle and I love preventive medicine," said returning area native Kenneth DeMott, family nurse practitioner. "I am pleased to connect with local families to help them live full and healthy lives."
DeMott joined as a health care practitioner earlier this year at Bassett’s Sidney Health Center where he sees patients of all ages. Bassett’s center in Sidney has grown from one practitioner, when it re-opened in the fall of 2005, to three full-time practitioners. "We’re happy to be able to grow to meet the community’s need for health services in Sidney and the surrounding communities and we’re especially pleased to have Ken join us, as he is very familiar with the area," said Julius Nagy, M.D., medical director, Sidney Health Center.
DeMott was born at The Hospital (now Tri-Town Regional Hospital) in Sidney, and later moved with his parents, who owned the General Store in Trout Creek, to Unadilla and graduated from Unatego High School. A combined fondness for the river and for kayaks led DeMott to compete in the popular General Clinton Canoe Regatta in the late 1970s in the professional division. "I still love the river and spend as much time as possible in my kayak," said DeMott.
He also worked at Sidney’s Bendix Corporation until he joined the Navy in 1980. He went on to earn an undergraduate degree in psychology at Chapman University in Orange, California, marry and raise two daughters, both of whom attended Bainbridge High School. He spent eight years as a Navy Corpsman with the Marine Corps and served on the hospital ship USNS Mercy during the first Gulf War as a trauma nurse. DeMott graduated with honors from Binghamton University in nursing and earned a Master of Science in trauma/critical care nursing at University of Maryland at Baltimore.
DeMott retired in 2000 as a Navy nurse corps officer, worked as a nurse manager at Bassett Health Network in the department of Surgery, and as a nurse emergency department manager at United Health Services Hospitals in Johnson City, N.Y. He then moved to Philadelphia to attend Drexel University, earning certification as a family nurse practitioner in 2009. He and his wife Maria have now settled in the town of Bainbridge.
DeMott works along with two other practitioners at Bassett Healthcare Network Sidney Health Center - - Julius Nagy, M.D., and Kelly McLaughlin, physician assistant. He will also provide coverage at Bassett’s Unadilla Health Center, where Sidney Health Center’s first primary care physician, Dr. Naron Keo, practices full-time.
Services at the Sidney Health Center include primary health care and management of chronic and acute medical problems in adults and children, along with physical exams, screenings and immunizations for all ages. A diabetes educator will soon make weekly visits to the center.
Bassett Healthcare Network Sidney Health Center is located at 39 Pearl St.West, adjacent to Tri-Town Regional Hospital. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information or for an appointment, call 607-561-2021.
