Ten years ago this month, Hope Healthcare opened its doors in Hamilton.Founded by Brent Williams and his wife Robin, the family practice has been located on Woodbourne Avenue in Pembroke, providing medical care, diagnostic services and aesthetic medicine for locals.“Back then, we never thought, believe it or not, that we’d be here ten years later,” said Dr Williams, an American who trained in the US and was an assistant professor at Emory University in Atlanta before opening his practice here in Bermuda.Starting off with one doctor and limited staff, the practice has grown in the last decade to now employ a second family practitioner, Dr. Kyjuan Brown, a health and lifestyle coach, Preston Ephraim and six additional support staff.In 2003, Dr Williams left his practice and teaching position in Atlanta to give his Bermudian wife the chance to move home.Today, his practice sees hundreds of patients a month and offers a wide range of diagnostic services including electrocardiography, spirometry (measuring lung function), cardiac stress testing and a full on-site diagnostic laboratory.“When we first came here, the focus was just providing a good medical practice because when I first came here, I found that some patients were not getting proper care,” Dr Williams said.“They also weren’t exposed to some of the technology — like I was one of the first doctors here to actually have electronic medical records.“Because in the US, that’s what we were doing anyway.”“We also wanted to have a medical practice that not only provided optimal care with diagnostics, but also education because I think that most of the patients weren’t getting educated,” Dr Williams added.“The more education you give a patient, the more time you give a patient, the more likely you are to go into preventive disease management, which in turn is less reactionary.”Three years ago, Hope Healthcare brought on board Dr Brown who also specialises in family practice as well as dermatology, medical weight loss and aesthetics.Dr Brown offers a number of services including an HCG medical weight loss programme, medical microdermabrasion, acne treatment and various laser treatments.“We’re still primarily a family medicine clinic with the compliment services of you can do some aesthetics, some laser and some weight loss.“We still do more medicine-based things than the aesthetics part,” he said.Dr Williams credits transparency and open communication for the success of his family practice.“I think openness with the patients is key.“We tend to, I think, communicate very well and the education I think is what people really come for.“They feel that we are comprehensive and thorough,” he said. “I think historically patients were told — here, take this and they don’t really know why so then their compliance goes down.“So I think we tend to take a lot more time with patients and I think our compliance level goes up because of it.”“We believe in an open chart system so if you’re looking, you can actually see your chart and we’ll show you results and give you copies of your results,” he said.“And electronic charts provide us quicker access because I can pull up your chart just like that. There’s actually a decrease in medical errors with electronic records too.“This is clear as day — doctors’ handwriting is horrible.“So, these types of things help the practice be more efficient and provide better patient care,” Dr Williams explained.Dr Williams, who is originally from California, is still licensed in the US and has served as the medical adviser for the US Consulate for the past four years.“He also holds corporate contracts with several large business on the Island like HSBC, CableVision, Willis Group, RenaissanceRe, the Corporation of Hamilton and Bank of Butterfield, among others.He says many of his expat and frequently travelling patients like the fact that he’s licensed in both places.“I’ve also had some other patients who actually prefer to get their medications in the US because they can get them in bulk. So for those patients living here who have ties to the US — whether they’re expats, spouses of Bermudians, or whatever else that’s also a benefit. It’s those types of services that make us attractive,” Dr Williams said. “You’re getting service that we feel is, on par with the service you’ll get in the US because that’s what some of them are looking for, he added.Dr. Williams says good service, good communication and good care for his patients is what keeps his business thriving — even in difficult economic times.“I found that there were so many businesses closing but not all of us are closing.“We just want to say hey — we’re still in the business of running a healthcare practice that’s still moving forward and thriving. It’s stable employment, I imagine.“If you provide good healthcare to the patients then your business will thrive.”Hope Healthcare is located at 14 Woodbourne Avenue. For more information, call 295-9105.