When Kevin Farrar asked his wife to take him to the Outer Banks ER, he already knew what the problem was. “I had diverticulitis,” says Farrar. He’d had diverticulitis before — a condition of the digestive system that can cause severe abdominal pain, among other symptoms – and though nearly a decade had passed since his first episode, Farrar recognized the signs.

Farrar, who divides his time between Hatteras Island and Virginia, went to The Outer Banks Hospital simply because it was right there when he needed it — the closest hospital. He’d never thought much about it before and never had a reason to form an opinion about the hospital or its staff. That was about to change, starting with his positive experience at the ER. “You can go to the emergency room up in the city, and you might sit there three or four hours before anybody even talks to you,” says Farrar. But The Outer Banks ER saw to his needs right away. After assessing Farrar, the ER doctor asked for Dr. Martin, a surgeon, to come look at Farrar, and they admitted Farrar to the hospital.

After giving Farrar antibiotics for several days, Dr. Martin told Farrar that the diverticulitis wasn’t going to clear up and would require surgery. What stood out to Farrar was how Dr. Martin treated him as a person. “So many doctors act like they’re doing you a favor when they come in your room…but Dr. Martin would actually talk to me,” says Farrar. From answering Farrar’s many questions about the procedure to sharing family photos, Dr. Martin was impressive to Farrar in every way. “We could just talk like he was one of my neighbors — except he was my surgeon. You don’t see that happen too often,” Farrar says.

Farrar also thought the nurses were outstanding. “They looked over me so much that I finally had to tell them once in a while, in a joking way, ‘Just leave me alone for a while, I’m fine.’ Real nice people up there,” Farrar says. And the surgery went so smoothly, sometimes Farrar has to remind himself that he underwent a major operation. “Everything worked like Dr. Martin said it was going to work…the hardest part was having to stay out of the ocean!” says Farrar.

Now Farrar can’t recommend The Outer Banks Hospital enough. He’s convinced several friends to seek care there rather than making the trek to Virginia or to Elizabeth City, NC, where many of his older friends were used to going. Farrar tells them, “You can just go right up here to this hospital. These are great people…instead of making that long drive. I had a very good experience.”