CANEY — The Caney area will receive the medical care of a veteran Montgomery County doctor.

James E. Hignight, MD, will join the staff of the Jane Phillips Caney Rural Health Clinic beginning April 8.

Hignight is no stranger to the Montgomery County area, having worked previously as a physician with the Mercy Physician Group in Independence and was an emergency room physician at Mercy Hospital.

Hignight received a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Kansas and earned a doctor of medicine from the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

He completed a residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Hignight also is a member of the Southeast Kansas Medical Society.

As a physician at the Caney clinic, Hignight will be associated with the Gemini Medical Group, which was formed in 1996 to provide the region with a strong base of primary care physicians. Gemini Medical Group is an affiliate organization of Jane Phillips Health Corporation and St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.

Appointments are now being accepted at the Caney clinic by calling (620) 879-2182.

The Caney clinic will continue to be served two existing practitioners: Jacklyn Jones, MSN, ARNP, and Melinda Allen, MD.