Jeffrey Hannel, MD

While growing up in Abernathy, Dr. Jeffrey Hannel remembers his teachers telling him he had empathy to help people, which helped him decide he wanted to grow up and be a doctor, but didn’t wait until college or even high school to start his medical education. He says he’d spend hours in the doctor’s office across the street from his school reading all kinds of science books.

Dr. Hannel graduated from David Lipscomb University in Nashville, and later earned his medical degree at the University of Nebraska Medical School. “After going through med school, I chose family medicine as my focus, mainly because I found a way that I could improve people’s lives early on before they got the disease, before they became sick, and before they needed the corrective end surgeries.” He completed a residency in Family Medicine at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Hannel is board-certified in Family Medicine. Before coming to Grace Health System®, he was in private practice in Crosbyton. Dr. Hannel also served as the Emergency Room Director at Crosbyton Hospital, the Medical Director of the Crosbyton Nursing Home, and the Medical Director of Crosbyton Home Health. In addition, he served at the County Health Office for five years and on the Crosbyton School Board for four years.

When you are Dr. Hannel’s patient, you can expect him to take his time learning all about you and your situation. “I can care for patients best, when I really know the patient. So, my first visit with almost everyone is just, let us just sit down and talk. Let us figure out what is important to you, where have you been, where you are wanting to head, what your family is like? It is an interesting, they do not give us a whole lot of time for that, so I typically do the first visits at the end of the day, so in case I go over, I can go over quite a bit.”

Even his established patients, Dr. Hannel may spend more time with you to make sure you understand the diagnosis and treatment options. “People really want a doctor who understands that there is more to life than just this physical complaint. A lot of times, people will complain that doctors sometimes run late these days, but what I found is the doctors who are sitting down listening are the ones that are going to be a little late and as long as you let people know that you are going to take time when their turn is up, they do not mind.”

Health problems are unpredictable and can happen all hours of the day and night, and not just during regular business hours. Dr. Hannel says that’s the advantage of having a facility like the Grace Walk-In Clinic. “We are there the days that you do not feel good. You can come in, even then we have a 24 x 7 call center, so if somebody has a problem or needs something in the middle of the night, there is someone to talk to. It is not the wait until the morning and reach the doctor.”

One of Dr. Hannel’s most passionate causes is the fight against obesity. “We partner with several doctors here in town to use dietary modifications and exercise programs with Dr. Sneed’s Weight Loss Clinic to surgical types of clinics at some of our partners here in town to other medical treatments. If someone can lose weight, they can get active again and activity changes their lives for the better.”