SAN ANTONIO – Walk into Chris Montoya's office at the TPC Family Medicine and Urgent Care Clinic in San Antonio, and it's hard not to notice the hardware hanging on the wall.
A shadow box holding a purple heart medal and another with two bronze stars are just some of the reminders of his military career as an Army Physician Assistant.
“They put us PA's (Physician Assistants) in the infantry battalion,” Montoya said. “I'm not just that medical component. I'm actually still somebody that is going to return fire if I have too."
Montoya joined the Army during desert storm in 1991. He spent 40 months in the Middle East. Although taking care of his fellow comrades was a priority in his job, he also helped local people in the areas he and his Battalion were sent to. Unfortunately, not all people are happy he was there.
"You have that village there locally,” Montoya said, “we're visitors. They are being influenced by bad guys. We were attacked. At that point, I was put in that danger, and I was wounded."
Skip ahead to today, Chris owns and practices at the TPC Family Medicine and Urgent
Care Clinic in North San Antonio. His military background is still evident in the way he runs his clinic.
"Everything we do is very task oriented,” Montoya said. “Simple, to the point, focus on the simple processes to the end point."
Chris and his team are willing to help in any way they can. He makes home visits to people in San Antonio and even has another location in Laredo. Even more impressive, is that he is embracing technology. Montoya and his team use a Medici app which allows him to visit with people face-to-face on a phone anytime, anywhere.
"Change is not just hard for me,” Montoya said. “Change is also for that generation or younger crowd."
Comparing the type of medicine Chris does today against his time in the Army and Marines is like night and day. But for Chris, having a team, working on a common goal, and just trying to keep people happy and healthy has always been his target.