Specialty Family Medicine Facility Novato Medical Offices Department of Medicine Address 97 San Marin Dr. Novato CA 94945 Map & Directions Telephone Appt/Advice: 415-899-7412 E-mail your doctor

My Office Hours

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 12:30 pm
Closed during lunch, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Welcome to my Home Page and into my heart!

My name is Galen Hegarty and I am a Family Medicine physician. This means that I care for all ages and all spectrums of disease. Through my position here at Kaiser Permanente I will be preventing, treating, and managing the health care of patients 18 years and older. I hope to impact patients, families, and the local community through a preventative approach to illness utilizing the most cutting edge technology of the 21st century in concert with the basics of lifestyle and complementary alternative medicine. Moreover, I believe that the development of long-term relationships with my patients and families in which I become familiar with their physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of being can greatly expand our therapeutic relationship. With this foundation I hope to create an understanding, comfortable, open environment with clear and comprehensive communication between my patients and myself.

I chose employment with Kaiser Permanente because my personal philosophy and that of Kaiser Permanente are much aligned. We are both dedicated to a preventative and evidence-based approach to health. For example, Kaiser provides access to a diverse array of resources focused on prevention, rehabilitation, lifestyle modification, and disease management. These aspects of patient care are too often overlooked in this fast-paced world of quick fixes and incomplete cures. We also understand that not every ailment has one perfect solution and that treatment will often need to be individualized.

Outside the medical arena I spend much of my time with friends in the setting of the great outdoors, such as hiking, camping, and biking. With my wife I enjoy healthy vegetarian cooking and daily cardiovascular and resistance training. I have traveled extensively throughout Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, Central America, Brazil, the Caribbean, and around the Mediterranean Sea. My travels have also included medical relief work in Nicaragua, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Thank you for visiting my site! Your comments and suggestions are always welcome, and I look forward to becoming your family physician. Below are some tips to help our visits go smoothly.

Preparing for Your Appointment

1. In order to make sure that we address your concerns or questions, please write down a list before our visit.

2. If you are seeing me for the first time, it is very helpful if you arrange for your prior records to be forwarded in advance of your visit.

3. If you have questions about preventative medicine--particularly if related to such controversial subjects as prostate cancer screening--consider reviewing information on the website of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

4. If you take multiple prescription medications, please bring a list or all of your current bottles to each appointment.

At Your Appointment

Please try to check in at least 15 minutes prior to your appointment time. Recognizing what an annoyance it is to wait for your doctor, I try very hard to stay on time. Please bear with me if I am running behind as a result of other patients who have come late or patients that are too ill to fit into a twenty minute visit. When we meet, make sure that we go through your list of concerns. While we may not be able to resolve every issue on the spot, we should be able to make plans for short term follow-up to make sure you get the care that you need. I appreciate your candor and your up-front feedback if you feel that I haven't heard or understood you or if you have unanswered questions at the end of a visit.

My Credentials

Medical school	University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL
Residency	Bayfront Medical Center, St. Petersburg, FL
Board certification	Family Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

This site may contain links to other web sites outside of www.permanente.net. Kaiser Permanente has no control over the content or the availability of these sites, and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. Web links are provided as an educational tool, and should not be relied upon for personal diagnosis or treatment. A link or reference to a web site should not be construed as an endorsement of the site or its contents. Any medical content that you feel may be important to your health should always be discussed with your Kaiser Permanente physician.