Dr. Eloise Skelton, Class of 1977, has joined Barstow Health Partners, a 4,200-square-foot clinic, offering primary care and specialty physicians to Barstow, CA residents. The clinic is owned by Dr. Rao Daluvoy, who also serves as its medical director. Daluvoy, a vascular and general surgeon with a 36-year history of caring for patients including over 13 years in the High Desert, said the opening has been smooth and the clinic is looking forward adding an internal medicine physician this fall. Daluvoy said he feels local specialty health care services are important to the economic viability and health care infrastructure in the Barstow area. “We’re very pleased to be in our beautiful, newly refurbished offices,” Daluvoy said. “With Dr. Eloise Skelton joining the team and an internal medicine physician expected to join us later this fall, it’s exciting to see my plans coming to fruition of putting together a team of physicians who are focused on treating patients well while making it as convenient and easy as possible for them to get their health care needs taken care of locally.”
Dr. Skelton joins the clinic from Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in Los Angeles. She is an obstetrician and gynecologist. Dr. Skelton said she is looking forward to the transition from the big city to Barstow. “Working in a small community like Barstow is something I’ve done in the past,” Dr. Skelton said. “It is so valuable having a physician close to home. Years ago I worked in Iowa in a city with a population of 9,000. One of my patients was pregnant with triplets, and her hospital was about 150 miles away from the town. She went into labor and I advised her not to go to the local hospital on her own.”The patient went to the clinic and Dr. Skelton told her she was not transportable and the babies had to be delivered at the clinic, she said. “We made it clear she wouldn’t make it to the hospital and we ended up delivering three babies,” Dr. Skelton said. “The babies are now in kindergarten and the mother is doing well. But can you imagine if she didn’t have access to the clinic in her town? Imagine if she had her babies on the freeway as she drove to the hospital?”
Dr. Skelton said her duties will include prenatal care, delivery, taking care of ob/gyn problems, performing surgery and conducting annual women’s exams. She said she is committed to taking care of people in small communities and feels it is important to be able to get specialized health care in the community. Her belief is despite Barstow being a small city, its residents still have “big health issues.” Barstow Health Partners accepts most insurance plans, including Medicare, Medi-Cal, PPOs, and HMOs and offers comprehensive care services, including routine and preventive care and treatment for serious conditions. The clinic’s physicians are also members of the medical staff at BCH.
Barstow Community Hospital CEO Steven Foster called Dr. Skelton’s training, background and years of experience with women’s health issues a wonderful asset to the Barstow community.“(Skelton’s) gynecological patients will benefit from our Surgical Service Department, which is outfitted with all new equipment and some of the latest technology, and her expectant mothers will feel safe and comfortable in our home-like maternity wing,” said Foster.
