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Dan Otero, DBA

Chief Executive Officer

Dan Otero is the Chief Executive Officer at Hidalgo Medical Services and has been with the organization since February 2016. Dan brings 32 years of healthcare experience to his role at HMS. He started his career as a pre-hospital and hospital clinical provider, specifically working as a Paramedic. He has held the positions of Director of Education, Quality Management, and Patient-Centered Care. Dan held the position of Senior Consultant with an international healthcare firm, providing patient-center care and quality improvement consulting throughout the U.S. Over his career he has specialized in leadership, operational excellence, and is certified in Lean and Six Sigma quality improvement specialization. Dan also served as Chief Operations Officer and Chief Administrative Officer at Gila Regional Medical Center prior to his role as CEO at HMS. Dan is a lifelong resident of Grant and Hidalgo Counties and is a graduate of Silver High School. Dan obtained his MBA in 2014 and his Doctor of Business Administration with a specialty in Leadership and Organizational Development in 2022 from the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, NM.

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Teresa Arizaga, MD

Chief Mental Health Officer

Dr. Teresa Arizaga is the Chief Mental Health Officer at Hidalgo Medical Services. A native New Mexican, Dr. Teresa Arizaga learned the importance of serving her community and medical profession at a young age.  As practitioners in the medical field, her parents were instrumental in instilling a good work ethic, compassionate care and a people centered approach in her practice.   Dr. Arizaga is a product of the Silver Schools (Class of 1991) and obtained her B.A. in Psychology and Chemistry from New Mexico State University. Choosing to remain in New Mexico to be near her family, she earned her M.D. in 2000, completing her residency in psychiatry in 2004 from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. She practiced at Gila Regional Medical Center beginning in 2005 and remained there for 15 years. She also ran a part time private practice for several years in Silver City, NM.

It is her hope to continue developing best practices with existing programs and to collaborate with GRMC, county detention centers, local providers, and with others. It is her vision to enhance behavioral health systems for children as well as proactive measures that can come with outpatient support, including drug and alcohol treatment. She believes that together, the potential for continued high quality behavioral health systems can be attained.

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Gretchen Cannon

Chief Financial Officer

Gretchen Cannon is the Chief Financial Officer at Hidalgo Medical Services. She was raised in a small town in Arkansas. She graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in 1999 in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree from the University of Arkansas in 2007.

Prior to HMS she has over 18 years’ experience as a Chief Financial Officer in non-profit and government sectors. In addition, she brings over 10 years of knowledge and experience working with FQHCs. Gretchen is a financial and management team member with proven work performance in communication, leadership and operations. She is a wife, mother and sports enthusiast who loves to spend time on the lake or enjoying any sports game, especially football.

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Albert Diaz

Chief Nursing Officer

Bio coming soon.

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Cathy Diaz

Chief People Officer

Bio coming soon.

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Amanda Frost, MPH

Chief Operating Officer

Amanda Frost, MPH, CHES is the Chief Operating Officer at Hidalgo Medical Services. Born in Texas and raised in Southern New Mexico, Amanda graduated with honors from New Mexico State University with a Master’s in Public Health and is a Certified Health Education Specialist through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.  In college, she was very active with Eta Sigma Gamma; the National Health Education Honor Society.

Amanda has worked in the Federal Qualified Health Care setting since 2011 and worked in the mental health field for four years before that.  Amanda began her career at HMS as a Clinic Coordinator and has since served as the Senior Mental Health Program Director and most recently the Chief Financial Officer before taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Amanda is very involved in the community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Hidalgo County Chamber of Commerce. She has also served as a Board of Director for the New Mexico Alliance of School Based Health Care.  Amanda’s passion lies in helping others and using her knowledge and expertise to provide patients and staff with the best experience possible while at HMS.

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Cassandra Hartley

Chief Compliance Officer

Cassandra Hartley (she/her) is the Chief Compliance Officer for Hidalgo Medical Services. Cassandra has over ten years of experience working in healthcare, with over five years working in healthcare management. Cassandra holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Science from Oregon Health and Science University.

Cassanda was born in Seattle, WA and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She came to Silver City, NM by way of Portland, OR. in April of 2021. Before moving to New Mexico, she was the Quality Management Coordinator for Legacy Health, a non-profit healthcare system with six primary-care hospitals, a children's hospital, and numerous outpatient facilities. After moving to Silver City Cassandra had the distinct pleasure of serving as Grant Country's first Health and Human Services Coordinator.

As the Chief Compliance Officer for HMS Cassandra hopes to help the organization achieve its mission to positively impact the health, well-being and quality of life for those we serve by ensuring quality and compliance in all we do.

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Ellis M Knight, MD, MBA.

Chief Medical Officer

Mac Knight has over 40 years of experience in the healthcare arena, as a practicing physician, physician executive, healthcare consultant, expert witness and industry thought leader. He has practiced and held leadership positions in community and academic settings and is familiar with the operation of hospitals in both rural and urban settings. He is frequently asked to speak at national meetings and has authored or co-authored multiple books and articles on a variety of healthcare related topics.

Dr. Knight graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Biology and received his doctor-of-medicine degree, cum laude, from the University of Oregon Health Science Center's School of Medicine. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has earned fellowship status in the American College of Physicians, the Society of Hospital Medicine, and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr. Knight has a particular interest in value-based care process design, cost accounting, clinical integration and physician / clinician leadership skill development. His special passion is pushing for change in the healthcare system that result in higher value (quality per unit of cost) for patients in these extremely challenging times.

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Isaac Saucedo, PA

Family Practice Clinician
Physician Assistant

Western New Mexico University
Evangel University, Missouri
Arizona School of Health Services

Issac Saucedo is a family practice clinician who has a special interest in rural and preventative medicine. Isaac was born and raised in Silver City, and attended Western New Mexico University. He later graduated from Evangel University, Missouri, and went on to attend Arizona School of Health Services. Isaac Saucedo is certified with the National Commission on Certifications of Physicians Assistants (NCCPA). He is a fellow of the New Mexico Academy of Physician Assistants (NMAPA) and a fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA).

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Teresa Carrasco

Director of Patient Financial Services

Teresa Carrasco is the Director of Patient Financial Services at Hidalgo Medical Services. She was born and raised in Bayard NM, and graduated from Cobre High School in 1999. Teresa knew early on that she wanted to stay close to home and somehow contribute to her community. Teresa had a desire to become part of the medical field, like her mother and aunt, but not sure where she would fit in, so she took on many operations positions within the medical industry, specifically at GRMC and another local health care clinic. This journey finally led her into the area of medical billing and coding, and in 2006, she became part of the Hidalgo Medical Services family, in the billing department. With a great thirst to learn all she could about this area, and with the support of her family, Teresa took and passed the painstaking exam to obtain her Certified Professional Coder (CPC) certification through the American Academy of Professional Coders organization. She has kept this certification since 2008. In 2018 she decided to add to this and also obtained her Certified Professional Biller (CPB) certification through the same organization. Dually certified, Teresa became the Director of Patient Financial Services in 2017 and continues to grow her knowledge of medical billing and coding and enjoys helping and sharing her knowledge with her colleagues and her Patient Financial Services Team in order to help increase awareness around the importance of correct billing/coding practices, specifically in the FQHC setting.

Teresa strives to lead and empower her team to become a powerful and knowledgeable Patient Financial Services department, while ultimately creating an open and inviting environment where patients can call and/or come visit with our Patient Financial Services Representatives to discuss and work through any billing issues that they may be encountering.

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Brian Etheridge, MD, FAAP

Pediatric Services Medical Director
Pediatrician
Doctor of Medicine
Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics

New Mexico State University
University of New Mexico
Health Sciences Center School of Medicinea
University of Louisville, School of Medicine

Born and raised in New Mexico, Dr. Etheridge attended New Mexico State University, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Social Work with minors in both Chemistry and Public Health. Dr. Etheridge completed his medical degree at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, and his Pediatric Residency at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Dr. Etheridge lives in Silver City with his wife, Nancy, and their two children. In his downtime, he enjoys spending time with his family and pets, yard work, and reading. He is proud to call Grant County "home”, and be a part of HMS family, once again.

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Patricia Hamilton

Director of Community Mental Health

Patti graduated from University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2000 with a Master in Social Work and from Park University in 1983 with Bachelors in Social Psychology. She most recently worked at Gila Regional Medical Services as the psychotherapist in the Behavior Health Unit after retirement as a Child Protective Supervisor with New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in 2016. Patti has worked with a diverse population of clients since 1990: foster and adopted children and their families, trauma survivors, the homeless, chemical dependent individuals, LGBTQ, former incarcerated individuals and individuals diagnosed with DSM-5 diagnoses both inpatient and outpatient. Her practice is based on a Strength-Based Approach focusing on individuals’ self-determination and strength within their systems, specifically seeing clients and families as resourceful and resilient when in adverse conditions.

Patti was born and raised in rural East Tennessee. Patti is married to Tim, also a Social Worker and has 2 daughters, 3 stepdaughters and 1 stepson who have given her wonderful grandchildren.

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Jamie McMahen

Director of Finance

Jamie McMahen is the Director of Finance at Hidalgo Medical Services. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Middle Tennessee State University. After completing her degree, Jamie worked in the music business before returning home to pursue a career at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Over the next ten years, Jamie gained experience in all areas of the FQHC before accepting her current position at HMS.

Jamie and her four siblings, including her twin brother, were born and raised in a rural town in southwest Arkansas. She is a proud wife and mother of three kids. She enjoys attending concerts, fishing, sports and spending time with her family. Her goal is to help HMS provide excellent care to all patients and continue to make a positive impact in the communities they serve.

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Melissa Palmer, LPCC

Mental Health Therapist
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

Melissa Palmer has worked as a licensed mental health therapist in Silver City since 2001. Along with offering psychotherapy services to clients with a variety of issues, she also provides clinical supervision for some therapists as well as the Comprehensive Community Support Services (CCSS) program, and also devotes part of her time focusing on quality improvement at HMS. She graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, and from Western New Mexico University with a Master of Arts degree in Counseling.

Melissa started her career working mainly with children and adolescents utilizing play and art therapy, and has specialized in trauma treatment with clients of all ages throughout her career. She has been facilitating a therapy group focusing on improving substance abuse and trauma symptoms for the past year. Melissa ensures clients receive assistance to manage all aspects of their health, including their mental and physical health, as well as learning how to maintain healthy relationships and ensuring their community resource needs are met.

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John Prejean

Director of Senior Services

John Prejean is the Director of Senior Services and came to Hidalgo Medical Services after having owned and operated Occupational HealthLab Inc. for fifteen years. He joined HMS in November of 2020 as the Credentialing Manager where he collaborated with his team to standardize and streamline the credentialing and privileging process. In May of 2022 he was promoted to Director of Senior Services.

John was raised in Silver City and is committed to making a positive difference in his community. His gregarious personality lends itself to be an agent of change for the challenges that face the elderly in Grant and Hidalgo County. In his spare time, John is a drummer/singer, loves karaoke, concerts, traveling with his family and fishing. He has been married to his wife, Elaine for 32 years and they have three children.

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Patrick Nesbitt

Director of Facilities

Patrick Nesbitt received his Journeyman Electrical License in 1981. He traveled the State of New Mexico and West Texas installing commercial electrical and special systems. Pat has been the Director of Facilities at Hidalgo Medical Services since 2017. Prior to this Pat served in the capacity of Maintenance Supervisor and Director of facilities at GRMC from 2007 -2017. Patrick was born and raised in rural New Mexico and knows firsthand how important healthcare is to a rural community. He likes to help people and is in the perfect field to do just that.

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Eddeana Ueland

Tu Casa Director

Eddeana has an undergraduate degree in Bachelor’s of Art in Counseling. She attended UNM, Louisiana State to concentrate on Addiction Studies, She Came to New Mexico in 1996. She has extensive knowledge in substance use/abuse disorders. She has worked in Therapeutic communities both in a prison setting and out of prison. She came to New Mexico to assist with the startup of Amity at Fort Stanton where she lived and worked until 2003.

She then worked for Dept. of Corrections as a probation/parole officer for two years. She also worked in the prison as an Addiction Counselor.

In 2009 She came to Grant county to be the clinical supervisor of Yucca Lodge. She was the Yucca Lodge Program Director from 2010-2017 when the DOH relocated Yucca Lodge to Roswell, NM. In 2020 she retired from The Department of Health.

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Marie C. Weil, PsyD, ABPP

Psychology Services Director

Psychology Services Director

Psychology Services Director, Marie C. Weil PsyD, ABPP. Dr. Weil (she/her/ella) is a bilingual (Spanish/English) licensed clinical psychologist in NM and TX, and board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in clinical health psychology. In addition, Dr. Weil is the site director of the NM Psychology Internship Consortium and maintains a clinical health psychology practice in Silver City.

Dr. Weil earned a PsyD and MS in clinical psychology from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, an MA in applied psychology from Penn State University, and BS in psychology and Spanish from Sweet Briar College. Dr. Weil’s clinical and scholarly interests include comprehensive psychological testing and assessment, bilingual clinical supervision, health psychology practice focused on integrated care with co-occurring mental health and substance use challenges and for patients with chronic medical conditions. Her expertise includes chronic pain, health behavior change, palliative, hospice, and end-of-life care.