Get to know Dr. Linda Davenport: Family Health provider at the DIP Health Center in Mobile

Dr. Linda Davenport joined the Family Health staff this spring. She is accepting

new patients at the Dauphin Island Parkway Health Center in Mobile.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Dr. Linda Davenport is one of Family Health's newest providers, joining the Mobile County Health Department staff earlier this spring at the Dauphin Island Parkway Health Center. She worked as a nurse for 15 years before entering medical school at the University of Michigan. At the time, her children were 4 and 8.

"Some people didn't remember me from medical school classes, but they always remembered my son because he stayed so quiet," she said. "They couldn't believe he was so well-behaved."

Now, her son is preparing to enter medical school, following in his mother's footsteps.

In 2007, after spending decades weathering winters in Michigan, where some say it's only cold 11 months of the year, Dr. Davenport decided she'd had enough of the snow. She looked for a job in the Southeastern U.S., finally settling in Thomasville, Ala. When the hospital there where she worked unexpectedly closed, she and her husband eventually looked for a new home on the Gulf Coast.

What has impressed her about MCHD, she said, is the variety of services offered to the public, from adult care to dental, optometry and even laser hair reduction. "I've never worked for a Health Department that offered so many choices to the public," she said.

Empowering patients to improve their quality of life is something she loves to do. "When I meet someone who has a poor health status, it's nice to be able to help them get to where they need to be. I love it when they come back and tell me their blood pressure is under control for the first time in years. It's a good feeling."