A new doctor has set up practice in Artesia.

After a lengthy search and long negotiations, Dr. Jose Luis Porras was attracted to Artesia and is now seeing patients.

Dr. Porras came from El Paso, Texas, and practices adult internal medicine. Internal medicine deals with internal organs, such as kidneys, lungs, cardiovascular system and diabetes and hypertension.

Chip Camp, CEO of Artesia General Hospital, said a doctor practicing internal medicine was needed in Artesia, to take the pressure off general practitioners. He said Dr. Porras is needed and now has hospital privileges.

"I’m excited to be here," Dr. Porras said. "I think the hospital can grow and I’m hoping I can help that."

There’s an Artesia connection to this story. Karla Porras, the doctor’s wife, is the daughter of former Artesia Bulldogs football coach T. W. Harvey.

Harvey is teaching school in El Paso.

Karla wanted to come back to Artesia, which provided motivation for the move. Camp also helped, the doctor said.

"We had been talking about this for three years," Dr. Porras said. "Chip Camp had a lot to do with my coming here."

Camp took over as CEO a few months ago.

Dr. Porras was born and raised in El Paso. He attended Cathedral High School, then began his medical studies at Texas Tech. He moved on to the Medical College of Wisconsin (Marquette) and did his residency in Tucson.

He has been practicing in El Paso since 1987. His father was a physician and he is following in his footsteps.

Dr. Porras has also worked in critical care and worked two years in an emergency room.

He settled on internal medicine.

"I like preventive medicine," he said.

Medicine is a continual learning process. It is a field that changes rapidly. "I’m continuing my medical education. By law we need to keep up."

Keeping up with the changes in insurance is also necessary. Dr. Porras said many insurance companies don’t tell patients, or doctors, what they need to do regarding preventive medicine.

The Porras’s have four children, ages 12, 10, 8 and 11 months. The doctor said the slower pace of Artesia appealed to him. And he wanted to get away from the big city crime and congestion of El Paso.

"We’re open and taking patients now," he said. "We’re getting our billing system up.

"It’s nice when you have a practice base and you get to know your patients. You can talk to them like friends," Dr. Porras said.

"We’ll treat patients here and if we need to send them to a specialist, we will."

His mother was in charge the office of his father’s practice. And Karla will be running the office here, Dr. Porras said.