Griffin starts her own practice

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

To anyone who is from this area, it’s obvious. Every weekend, people from neighboring metropolitan areas such as Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia or even New York take time from their busy schedules and visit Coastal Delaware and relax. They walk along the boardwalk, lie on the beaches and ride the bikes they brought strapped on the back of their SUVs or minivans.

But then they have to leave. Only some are lucky enough to return to the attractive, relaxing Delaware shore’s and stay — permanently. Dr. Kristine Griffin is one of those people.

As a child, she and her family left their Maryland home every summer to vacation on the Delaware Shore. About eight years ago, Griffin’s parents moved to the area permanently, and she wasn’t far behind. After receiving a doctorate and her medical training, Griffin moved to Delaware. And at the beginning of this month, the doctor made another significant move.

After working as a part of the Fenwick Medical Center staff for almost three years, Griffin leased Dr. Marc Kattleman’s former office and started a primary-care practice of her own, which she called Griffin Family Practice.

“A good opportunity presented itself here for me to go out on my own, to be my own boss,” Griffin said. “I was an employee. This was just a good opportunity for me to go out on my own as a solo practitioner.”

Griffin, though, like many other people, said that early on she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. It wasn’t until early on in her college career at Towson University in Maryland that she decided that being a doctor would suit her lifestyle.

“I’ve always liked the sciences,” Griffin said, and “I’ve always been a people person. It’s a good way to combine those two things.”

So after her 1996 graduation from Towson, Griffin applied not far away — to the University of Maryland’s doctoral program. After receiving the acceptance letter and four years of studying, Griffin graduated from the University of Maryland program in 2000 and performed her residency training in western Pennsylvania. When she completed her training in 2003, she moved and met up with her parents in the place they once vacationed.

At her Route 54 location in Selbyville, Griffin now serves as a primary doctor for patients ages 5 and older. Among other things, she monitors blood-pressure issues and diabetes, deals with women’s health, offers physicals and treats sicknesses like the flu. (For an appointment, call 436-9600.)

Griffin said that a “sick appointment” will be available soon after the time of a call but getting an appointment for a physical might be a little more difficult.

“It has been busy,” Griffin said, adding, though, that it is a “healthy kind of busy.”

“Basically, I wasn’t practicing for those two months, so there was an initial high demand,” she added. “It’s settling down a bit.”