Ewurama Ampofo always dreamed of opening her own medical practice.
At first she assumed her focus would be on midwifery, as that was the most common type of advanced practice for nurses in Ghana where Ampofo spent most of her young life.
Today, she is the owner of Sterling Family Medicine in Vernon. The practice, which opened in 2022, has grown from one patient to 500.
Though Ampofo always had this dream in mind, she says it was a long road to get here.
“The dream kind of died away when I got into regular life and I became a nurse, went into bedside nursing, and that kind of consumes you," she said. "So I forgot about it, until I got to the point where I found that my curiosity for understanding why we did what we did at the bedside increased.”
As a Black-owned business, Sterling Family Medicine strives to make patients feel seen by practitioners who understand their life experiences.
“I'm happy that I can create a space where Black men, Black women can come and feel seen and feel that I don't have to explain certain parts of my experience," Ampofo said. "But at my core, I want to serve everyone, and everyone comes in and feels like they are noted and seen.”
Ampofo says growing up largely outside of the United States has informed how she approaches her practice.
“In America, there's so much information that people tend to self diagnose, and so you spend a lot of time trying to understand why they come to you with a diagnosis that they have,” she said.
She says she has learned to work with this tendency and strives to understand each patient’s mindset to better meet their needs.
Ampofo admits that owning her own business has not come without challenges.
“All of your weaknesses and flaws will come to the surface when you're doing your own thing … when it's all on you, where you have to wear all the hats, you know, everything will come up,” Ampofo said.
But Ampofo is proud of how far she has come. To those aspiring to own their own practice someday, she encourages finding a quality mentor, particularly one who changes the way you think about medicine. Ampofo emphasizes that all it takes is for one person to take a chance on you.
In the future, Ampofo hopes to further incorporate psychology into her practice. She believes the combination of specializations in family medicine and psychology is crucial.
“It's been a really beautiful marriage, because you really get to understand how people experience life, first and foremost, and then how the experience informs their decisions and how they take care of themselves.”
Ampofo is of the belief that segregating different medical specialities can often lead practitioners to miss the whole picture.
“Notoriously, psychiatry almost is separate from the body, you know, the head, but it's not you know what affects the body affects the mind.”
This approach allows Sterling Medicine to provide patients with a full spectrum of care grounded in its core mission that “true wellness begins with a trusting relationship with a provider.” Ampofo brings this mission to life by intentionally avoiding a hero complex.
“I tell myself at the beginning of each day that you're not a hero, you're a helper, you know, you sit, you listen, you observe, and then you get a sense of what's going on. And then you determine what the dynamic is and how you can support.”
Ampofo has aspirations for Sterling and for her own future. She hopes to expand the practice’s offerings to include family, individual, and couples therapy and place an emphasis on multi-speciality care.
She also strives to give back to the community and to return the favor of all those who have helped her reach success today.
“I really want to give back to the nursing community, to the medical community, to patients, by teaching, instructing and mentoring and offering quality care as well” Ampofo said.
Ampofo also envisions returning to Ghana to practice in the future, bringing her experience full circle by contributing to the healthcare system where her medical dream began.
