Keeley Joins FMDH's Staff As General Surgeon

John Keeley is one of the newest member of the Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital's (FMDH) staff, joining the Glasgow Specialty Care Clinic as a general surgeon in May. He joins general surgeon Kevin Cahill, general surgery/obstetrics and gynecology physician assistant Nicole Nelson and general surgeon Mark Hiesterman. As a general surgeon, Keeley will be assisting patients with abdominal issues and perform procedures such as endoscopies and colon surgeries.

Having an Air Force upbringing, mostly growing up in bases throughout the southern part of the United States, Keeley enlisted in the Army after high school. After serving, he knew he didn't want that to be long-term career, so he ended up back home in Georgia and started college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., and also received a Physician Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.

While in college, he started working in an emergency room as a technician and was pretty sure at that time he would somehow end up in the medical field, specifically in emergency medicine, but never thought life would direct him towards being a surgeon.

"We started having kids pretty early. You always hear the horror stories about what the lifestyle of the surgeon is, and it's supposedly this terrible all-consuming, sucks the life out of you sort of thing," explained Keeley. "I had no intention of going into surgery at all and through the course of the training, the various clinical rotations and different specialties, when I got to surgery, it just became clear that was the thing to do and nothing else was going to make the mark."

Keeley received his Doctor of Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine, in Macon, Ga., and is board certified in the American Board of Surgery – General Surgery & Surgical Critical Care. He is also affiliated with Society of Critical Care Medicine, Moretz Surgical Society, Southeastern Surgical Congress and Association of Academic Surgeons.

After finishing his training, he started working for a level one trauma center in Tennessee, where he and his family currently reside. After a company merger, Keeley decided to be a traveling surgeon, working out of town at different facilities for various lengths of time. Keeley is currently in rotation with the other surgeons in Glasgow Clinic's Specialty Care to ensure there is 24/7 general surgery care for patients.

"Montana definitely is one of the last Frontier area, where things aren't as settled and crowded," explained Keeley on why he choose Glasgow to serve. "I've always had a passion for the rural and remote. I don't enjoy the urban environment and crowded places." He thoroughly enjoys the ability to go for a drive, find what's available in nature and explore.

He enjoys nature so much, that if medicine did not end up being Keeley's calling, he admits he would be a full-time homesteader, and has even considered this being an exit plan at some point in his life.

Though he is trying to figure out specific hobbies, he loves everything nature related and raising livestock. "One of my realizations is that, as a healthcare professional, people often put their lives on hold and decide that they're going to live later," said Keeley. "Unfortunately some of them never get to live to see it. So I'm trying to live each day deliberately and enjoy the experience, rather than waiting."

Even though he won't be in the area full-time, Keeley is looking forward to getting to know his patients and the community. His goal in working at Glasgow's Speciality Care Clinic and assisting patients is providing them with as much of their care as possible as close to home as possible. Though he recognizes it's not always possible, he hopes by being here he is able to accommodate as many patients as possible with their desires to get near-to-home health care.