After providing care in Larned for 17 years, Dr. David Sanger moved to Hutchinson to help care for his mother during her battle with lung cancer. Now his passion for rural health care brings him back to Ellinwood Hospital and Clinic where he’s currently seeing patients.

“I was not doing direct patient care while I was in Hutchinson, so I was really wanting to get back into that,” he said. “The hospital heard through a nurse practitioner here that I was looking to get back to hands-on patient care and reached out to me.”

Sanger was born and raised in Wichita. He attended Wichita State University for his undergraduate studies before attending The University of Kansas School of Medicine. His residency was done at Via Christi St. Joseph.  

“I just loved taking care of the people in Larned,” he said. “All of my children were born and raised in rural Kansas, so I wanted to get back here and start taking care of these folks again.”

Sanger has been married for 30 years. Together, he and his wife adopted five children who now range in age from 18-26.

“They’re getting older now and moving out of the house but my oldest lives in Larned. My daughter works at the hospital in Hutchinson and a middle son and his wife live in Kansas City. I have another son working on his associate’s degree and our youngest just graduated from high school.” Sanger also has a four year old grandson.

“He loves to go cycling with me and hanging out so that’s been wonderful,” he said. “I didn’t know how great it was to have a grandkid. If I had known, I would’ve had them first!” 

Sanger enjoys taking care of patients throughout the spectrum from birth to death and also has a passion for caring for athletes.

“I spent a lot of time on the sidelines,” he said. “We are going to be working to improve concussion care for athletes here locally in our community.”

Sanger said he is excited to be back to taking care of patients on a daily basis.  

“I really like to partner with a patient,” he said. “I don’t like to tell them what needs to be done. I like to give them recommendations and work with them on their level of comfort to put together a plan for taking care of their health.”

Dr. Sanger is accepting new patients in the Ellinwood Clinic. He is in the office Monday and Tuesday and will be seeing patients remotely through a hybrid telehealth from 7 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday through a new walk-in clinic that opens June 1. Patients must come to the clinic but no appointment is necessary.