Meet Dr. Cheryl Focht: Caring for the Whole Family

For Dr. Cheryl Focht, caring for a child starts with something simple: asking how the family is doing. 

“I have to spend the first five minutes of every visit checking in,” says Dr. Focht, a pediatrician at Neighborhood Health. “I can’t jump right into, ‘When was your last dental visit?’ or ‘How’s the baby sleeping?’ I really have to check in with the parents and the family and how things are going.” 

That approach has defined Dr. Focht’s career in community pediatrics and her years at Neighborhood Health. 

Before joining Neighborhood Health about 10 years ago, Dr. Focht spent 18 years working at Mary’s Center in Washington, D.C. When she learned that Neighborhood Health was opening a clinic just minutes from her home, she saw an opportunity to continue the kind of work she loved while serving families in her own community. 

Since then, she has watched Neighborhood Health grow dramatically. But what stands out most to her isn’t simply the organization’s growth. It is the ability of providers to work together to care for the whole person. 

At Neighborhood Health’s Richmond Highway location, for example, dental services are just across the hall from Dr. Focht. If she sees something concerning during a pediatric visit, she can consult with the dental team. Behavioral health specialists, social workers and other members of the care team can similarly collaborate when a child or family needs additional support. 

That makes an enormous difference. 

“The ability to be a little bit more comprehensive in the lives of our patients is huge,” Dr. Focht says. 

She recalls regularly talking with behavioral health colleagues about patients they share, each bringing a different perspective to the conversation. For Dr. Focht, that collaboration is one of Neighborhood Health’s greatest strengths. 

“I don’t have all the answers,” she says. “Having that ability to have support as a provider, but also to collaborate and figure out what’s best to do” helps patients receive more complete care. 

The relationships extend beyond a single appointment, and often well beyond a single year. 

Dr. Focht has cared for some families for a decade. She has watched children become teenagers and teenagers become adults. In some families, she cares for siblings, cousins and multiple generations. 

Those long-term relationships can be especially important when young people are navigating complicated medical or personal circumstances or transitioning from pediatric to adult care. Dr. Focht has continued supporting some medically complex patients into their early 20s when an abrupt transition would be difficult. 

“It’s not easy for them,” she says. “I like being able to be there and do that for them.” 

For Dr. Focht, all of this also speaks to something she wishes more people understood about community health centers: affordable and accessible care does not mean lesser care. 

“We provide really good care for the patients that come here,” she says. “It’s not just sort of like, ‘Okay, here are your shots and go off.’” 

She sees that same commitment among her colleagues. 

“There are some amazing providers,” she says. 

It is an approach that may take a little more time. Dr. Focht readily admits that stopping to ask how a family is doing can sometimes put her behind schedule. But she believes listening is part of providing excellent medical care. 

Her message to patients is simple: “I’m going to take good care of you.” 

And after decades in community pediatrics, that remains the heart of why she does this work.