Dr. Hisey proud of 25 years at Sievers Medical Clinic

When Commie Hisey was in second grade, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. But never in his wildest dreams did he imagine one day he would be a doctor, would be able to come back to his hometown, and then help create one of the most successful rural medical clinics in all of Texas, the Sievers Medical Clinic.
He is now Dr. Commie Hisey, and on Wednesday, Aug. 29, Dr. Hisey will oversee the Sievers Medical Clinic’s celebration of its 25th anniversary of providing medical care to the greater Gonzales area. The clinic started with just two doctors, but has since grown to nine doctors, one nurse practitioner and two PAs working at Sievers. It has been a long but worthwhile journey for Dr. Hisey.
“I grew up in a medical family,” Dr. Hisey explained. “My father William, whom everyone called Gene, was a medical administrator. My mother Mary Jean was a registered nurse. So it was sort of natural that I would be interested in medicine.
“I think it was my mom who told me that if I was serious about becoming a doctor, I should learn medicine from the ground up. In my early high school years, I was an orderly at the Gonzales hospital. I changed bed pans, gave enemas, scrubbed rooms—you name it, I did. I loved it and couldn’t wait to go to medical school.”
After graduating Gonzales High School, Hisey attended Texas Lutheran College in Seguin and then was accepted at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth to pursue his medical degree.
“I always wanted to come back to Gonzales to practice,” Dr. Hisey said. “But I wasn’t sure how I was going to make that happen. I was just about done with my residency when I received a call from the Gonzales hospital administrator at the time, Doug Langley.
“Doug asked if I would be interested in coming back, and he talked to Dr. Roland Medellin and myself about practicing medicine here. They were discussing the concept of building a medical clinic, but the issue was finding doctors who were willing to serve in rural hospitals—which is still a big issue.
“After talking, the offer was to help pay off some of our student loans, and if we stayed for 10 years to have most of the loans paid off through tax dollars and state and federal grants for rural hospitals,” Dr. Hisey said. “Doug said he was desperate to find some licensed doctors who were willing to commit to the medical clinic/rural hospital model. I told him on the phone I was interested, and he came up to Fort Worth with contracts to sign.”
According to Dr. Hisey, there was a Gonzales County Health Care Foundation in place that oversaw the Sievers Foundation estate money dedicated to medicine. Dr. Hisey says his father-in-law, Buster Lindemann, was on the foundation board and wanted to help fund the medical facility. Dr. Denman was in charge of the foundation board, but was reticent at first in using the estate money to build a clinic. When the idea was suggested to name the clinic the Walter Sievers Medical Clinic, Dr. Denman jumped in and the project got done.
“When I first got here, Dr. Medelein and I worked out of a doublewide trailer on the hospital grounds while the Sievers Medical Clinic was being built. It was functional, but we were excited when they opened the doors on Aug. 2, 1993. It wasn’t long before we were seeing 800 patients a month, and now we service 37,000 patient visits a year. It has truly been remarkable, not only with the Sievers Medical Clinic expansion, but with the additional staff that we’ve brought in as well.”
The Sievers Medical Clinic now has the following doctors working out of it: family practitioners Dr. Commie Hisey, Dr. David Meredith, Dr. John Thomas, Dr. Chris Walker and Dr. Sean Hattenbach; pediatrician Dr. Humberto Rivas; orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gloria Box; OB Gyn Dr. Rikki Baldwin; and general surgeon Dr. Kathleen Koerner. Diana Picha is the nurse practitioner, and the PAs are Stephanie Jasik and Todd Crawford. Doreen Fink has worked at the facility since 1993, while Stacey Davis and Stephanie Fojtik joined the staff in 1995. They have been there ever since.
Dr. Hisey is married to the former Donna Lindemann for 35 years. They have two sons (Ben and Matthew) and three grandchildren.
On Aug. 29, the Sievers Medical Clinic will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a variety of giveaways and surprises, including free hot dogs!
Terry Fitzwater is the publisher and editor of the Gonzales Inquirer. You can reach him at terry.fitzwater@gonzalesinquirer.com.