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Three Notch Medical Center is now under new leadership as Dr. Corbin Ferguson bought all rights to the practice from Dr. Frank Maddox last week on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

A Birmingham native, Ferguson finished his residency in June 2023. He completed a training program in vein and lymphatic medicine to treat varicose veins in Homewood, Alabama, in May last year.

“The decision was, ‘Where do I go next?’ because I received a Blue Cross Blue Shield scholarship which is paid for two years of medical school. The scholarship requirements were that I had to work in a rural area. I have friends in Crestview, Florida, who recommended Andalusia because they are from here. When I came to visit the city, I really liked it and the fact that it’s close to the beach. It’s a little bit slower-paced life than Birmingham, and I can be anywhere in five minutes,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson graduated from Auburn University in 1993 with a degree in Mathematics and received his master’s degree in Adult Education. He finished medical school at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2020.

He previously worked in the cabinet business for several years. He was Pre-Med in college but said he was not drawn to medicine at that time.

“When I was in the cabinet business, I enjoyed meeting with people and diagnosing their kitchen. Whenever the cabinets would go in, I would go out and have to solve and fix problems. My skills were always interacting with people and problem solving. When I got a little bit older, I realized I couldn’t keep up with the manual labor, so I had to reinvent myself. I started thinking about what my skill sets were and had always thought about family medicine,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson referred to the adjustment from urban life to rural life as a “very pleasant change.”

“Birmingham was nice with a lot of restaurants and things to do. The problem was that the traffic was so bad you had to plan when to go and where to go. Moving to Andalusia, there are no problems with traffic and no worries about scheduling things. It is a lot calmer with my anxiety not nearly as high having to fight traffic. I’m also close enough to Birmingham to visit my family and close enough to the beach where I can relax and unwind,” he said.

He will retain the current Three Notch Medical Center staff. Ferguson’s primary focus will be chronic care where he will address chronic problems including hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and hyperlipidemia.

“I’m hoping to provide us good care as Dr. Maddox did. I’ll be introducing a baseline test called a cardiometabolic assessment test that helps screen people for early onsets of various diseases before they actually have the symptoms. I’m hoping that will be really helpful in providing more quality care for individuals down here,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson, who has been in Andalusia since last summer, said Dr. Maddox would be missed.

“He has done a very good job of handing the patients off to me telling me a little bit more about their background and what their concerns are. It has been great as opposed to coming in, not knowing anyone, and having to learn it all on my own. He’s doing a great job of transitioning the care they have had for the past 40 years to me,” he said.

Three Notch Medical Center is located at 835 S. Three Notch St. in Andalusia. For more information visit threenotchmedical.com or call 334-222-8421.