Dr. Veronica Minier: ‘I like the fact that we are willing to help everyone’
A family doctor in rural Tennessee had a life-changing impact on Dr. Veronica Minier, whose medical career has led her to the farthest U.S. territory in the Pacific to tiny towns in Alaska and Idaho.
“It was nice to see how he could help people,” she said of the late-Dr. Byron Harbolt, who she shadowed early in her medical career. The much-beloved doctor provided family medicine and women’s health in a low-income community and was featured in numerous news stories, including on CBS News’ Eye on America feature.
His commitment to caring for community members – regardless of their ability to pay for the services – was one of the reasons why Dr. Minier joined Western Sierra Medical Clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
“I like the fact that we are willing to help everyone,” says Dr. Minier, a family provider who joined Western Sierra in early 2023. “I like our mission.”
Dr. Minier brings more than two decades of experience to the Grass Valley office of Western Sierra. She practices family medicine and women’s health, her first rotation in medical school at Loma Linda University in Southern California.
“It was a great experience,” says Dr. Minier, who also completed an obstetrics and gynecology fellowship at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Southern California and a family medicine residency at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield. “I like moms and babies.”
Dr. Minier is looking forward to meeting more patients and developing a connection with them.
“I like to build that connection with patients, and learn how I can help them the best,” she says. “Patients often have an idea of what they need, they just don’t know where to begin.”
It’s about communicating with and learning about patients, a skill she first learned from watching her mother, a home health nurse.
“Occasionally, she would take us with her and get to see how things were between her and her patients,” said Dr. Minier, who was born in Milwaukee and raised in rural Wisconsin. “It helped instill the importance of caring for other people.”
Dr. Minier has provided that care throughout her career. And Western Sierra’s range of health care services – from behavioral health and dentistry to an on-site pharmacy – will help her provide one-stop care that some patients may need.
“I enjoy a tight-knit medical community where they support each other and their care of patients,” says Dr. Minier, who adds that Western Sierra is one of the largest health care providers where she has worked.
She was most recently with Prairie Ridge Health Clinic in Columbus, Wis., and Columbus Community Hospital. Her two-decade medical career includes stints in a few small towns in Alaska and in Guam.
“I’m an adventurous person,” she says. “I like to try new things.”
She and her husband, who is retired, moved to Nevada County for the career opportunity at Western Sierra and to be close to their daughter, who is attending Weimar University in Placer County. Dr. Minier enjoys hiking, running, traveling and spending time with her family.
“It’s beautiful here,” she says.