Comprehensive care at Open Water Medical.

At Open Water Medical, we offer high-quality primary care services to help patients no matter where they are in life. We are a family physician office with three locations in Beaufort, Morehead City, and Goldsboro, NC. Our different sites provide immediate access to healthcare for your convenience.

We believe that high-quality care develops in a collaborative environment where doctors and patients work together. Our team truly listens to our patient’s concerns and takes the time to educate them on their conditions and treatment options.

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Beaufort Location

Morehead City Location

Goldsboro Location

Proudly serving the Crystal Coast community.

For over 30 years, we have dedicated our practice to providing optimized healthcare to patients over the age of 18 throughout the Crystal Coast community. Between our advanced technologies and comprehensive care methods, we deliver the most detailed and thorough healthcare possible.

Along with our three convenient locations in Beaufort, Morehead City, and Goldsboro, NC, we provide flexible hours to accommodate our patients’ schedules. For payment options, we accept Medicare and Medicaid for your convenience.

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Services we provide.

Urgent Care Visits

Our providers are trained to diagnose and treat most non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses when you or your family members need the care. No appointment is necessary when you’re looking for critical acute care. Whether you need a wellness exam or blood testing, we can help you immediately. Our focus is providing prompt, affordable, and high-quality treatment that stands out from the rest. With our advanced technology and excellent physicians, you can rest assured you are in safe hands.

Physicals

Our medical professionals work to deliver exceptional physical exams that support your best possible quality of life. We will assess your current lifestyle and look for areas to improve. Physicals allow us to identify medical issues in the earliest stages, when treatment may be most effective. We will review all of your current and recent medications to determine if your needs are being met in the best possible way. In some cases, a different medication may offer a better treatment path.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Our experienced team equips you for health success using remote patient monitoring devices like weight scales, blood pressure monitors, and glucose meters. The real-time health information is just as accurate as the readings you’d get in the office, so we can take action to resolve health problems as soon as they appear. This technology can be hugely beneficial for many patients with chronic conditions. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or you’re on a weight loss program, remote patient monitoring can significantly simplify your care. If your blood pressure reading shows that you’re at risk for health complications, your care provider may need to see you in person.

In-Office Lab Testing

At your convenience, our locations offer in-office laboratory testing to avoid having to schedule testing at a lab or hospital. With in-office lab testing, our highly skilled personnel can provide various medical tests with state-of-the-art equipment so that you can get your results quickly. Because our focus is preventative care, this allows us to identify any diseases or potential risk factors that may lead to medical conditions in the future. From diabetes and blood tests to urinalysis and more, we can test for all to deliver immediate treatment if necessary.

H1AC Testing

An H1AC test measures the amount of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin. We can view the average amount of glucose attached to hemoglobin over the past three months. If your levels are high, it may be a sign of diabetes, leading to heart disease, kidney disease, and more. You may need an H1AC test if you have increased thirst, increased urination, history of heart disease or high blood pressure, blurred vision, or fatigue. After testing, you may have slight pain or bruising at the spot where we put in the needle, but most symptoms go away quickly. If you have diabetes, the American Diabetes Association recommends keeping your HbA1c levels below 7%. Depending on your overall health, age, weight, and other factors, we will figure out the proper recommendations for you.

Weight Loss Counseling

With strenuous weight on our bodies, all systems and organs can be negatively affected. Our medical professionals can provide medically supervised weight loss. This approach can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight without fad diets or dangerous practices. Our goal is to help you define and achieve your weight loss goals. We will start with a complete health assessment to make sure your body can adapt to increased exercise and dietary changes. Then, you will receive a customized diet plan and exercise guidelines. Medications may play a role in controlling your appetite. Nutritional supplements can also help your body get what it needs to thrive. As you move forward, our team will continue to monitor your health and progress.

Smoking Cessation Counseling

Smoking is one of the most dangerous things you can do to your overall health and wellness. This addiction can increase your risk of heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and much more. Our team can help develop a medically approved plan to help you succeed with smoke cessation. Finding the proper treatment may take some trial and error, but we will guide you towards the options best suited for your needs. Our professional support and advice will be there for you when you need it the most.

COVID-19 Rapid Testing

We also offer COVID-19 rapid testing so you can have your results immediately. Throughout the pandemic, we have worked diligently to provide the essential resources you need to stay protected and healthy.

COVID-19 Vaccines

We currently offer COVID-19 vaccinations in-house. Our team is equipped with the tools and expertise to administer the vaccine. We do require calling and scheduling an appointment.

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family physicians | Beaufort, Morehead City, Goldsboro NC

family practice | Open Water Medical PA, Beaufort, Morehead City, Goldsboro NC

healthcare for families | Beaufort, Morehead City, Goldsboro NC

urgent care center | Beaufort, Morehead City, Goldsboro NC

Who we are.

We started Open Water Medical in 1988 at our first location in Beaufort, NC. When Dr. Kerry Willis came back to Beaufort over 30 years ago, he wanted to ensure that rural North Carolina and the Down East community had quality primary care.

Since then, Dr. Willis has built on that goal and expanded his team of care providers throughout the years. We opened the Morehead City location in 2015 and then Goldsboro in 2019. Today, there are now three locations available to help residents throughout the Crystal Coast community.

Our team is proud to provide comprehensive care and individualized treatment to patients of all ages. With extensive training and years of experience, we can offer the thorough and careful treatment your family needs.

Jack Orton, RN

William “Jack” Orton became an East Tennessee State University registered nurse in 1978. He attended Wake Forest University School of Medicine and became a physician assistant in 1990. Jack has 14 years of military service. He has also worked in family practice since 1995, being a chief physician assistant in Cardiothoracic surgery from 1990 to 1995.

Terri Turner, RN, FNP-BC

Terri is originally from Texas, where she was born and lived her whole life until moving to North Carolina 1.5 years ago. Her reasons for moving consist of “wanting to have an adventure” and “Dallas/Fort Worth was getting too big and noisy.”

She has been a Nurse Practitioner for over ten years and an ICU/Stepdown nurse for over 30 years. Her career as an NP consisted of doing house calls for the most fragile patients with multiple comorbid diseases. Her treatment philosophy is based on Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s philosophy of Human Becoming, which guides nurses to focus on the quality of life from each person’s perspective as the goal of nursing. The theory relies on partnering with a patient on healthy goals and prevention versus making the patient passive in their course of treatment.

Her current interests include taking a Reiki course (to assist with pain management for her patients), reading educational improvement books, and gardening. Currently, she has two German Shepherds and two cats, who think she babbles way too much and needs to give more treats. She also delights in spoiling her twin grandsons at every opportunity.

Michael Cartledge, PA-C

Michael Cartledge PA-C is an experienced Physician Assistant with over 27 years of experience in primary care and family medicine. He is retired from the U.S. Army Medical Specialty Corps and has worked in North Carolina for over 20 years.

Mr. Cartledge graduated from the University of Oklahoma with honors as a Physician Assistant. Additionally, he completed his Masters from the University of Nebraska with a concentration on family medicine.

Michael has a passion for primary care and especially diabetes. When a patient struggles with such a life-changing diagnosis as diabetes, Michael focuses on the patient by spending the necessary time with them and their family to control this disease and the many new interventions available to our patients.

Kerry Willis, MD

Dr Willis is a practicing Physician at Open Water Medical PA . He founded the practice over 30 years ago in Beaufort, NC and has overseen its growth to multi-site locations in NC. Dr Willis is a graduate of NC State University for undergraduate studies, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed his Medical training at the Family Medicine Center at East Carolina University. He returned home to Carteret County 32 years ago and opened the practice. A believer in community involvement, Dr Willis has been active in local sports programs as a team Physician and active in the fight against prescription opioid abuse as a speaker for regional seminars and provider of services for the Loaves and Fishes Drug Rehabilitation program. He is involved with the NC Academy of Family Medicine as part of the committee members working to improve the healthcare delivery system and its structure.

He is the husband of his awesome wife Kimberly and a Father to two incredible young men Samuel and Benjamin and his three grandchildren Baily, Brooke and Rhett. He enjoys introducing innovative technologies to primary care practices, hunting with his bird dogs and any kind of fishing that allows him to enjoy the great outdoors of North Carolina in his off time.