Local pediatrician Heather DiCross is bidding the Livingston community farewell after 11 years of service at Livingston HealthCare. She and her husband will return to their home state of Ohio after nearly 20 years away.
Local pediatrician Heather DiCross, a Park County resident since 2014, is bidding the Livingston community farewell after 11 years of unwavering commitment to service at Livingston HealthCare. She and her husband will return to their home state of Ohio after nearly 20 years.
DiCross, born in Beaumont, Texas, was raised in Leetonia, a small village in Northeast Ohio just south of Youngstown, where she and her husband, Duncan, first met at their kindergarten orientation more than 30 years ago—a longstanding childhood friendship fated for romance.
Heather graduated with her bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron in 2007, eventually attending medical school in Toledo and reuniting with Duncan prior to his departure for Oregon following college.
“We never dated until he moved to the other side of the country,” Heather quipped.
The two continued their long-distance relationship for three years until Duncan rejoined DiCross in Dansville, Pennsylvania, where she completed her final clinical rotation at Giesinger Medical Center, before relocating to Livingston in 2014—the place they would call home for a decade and raise their adopted son, J.D.
“Duncan wanted to go somewhere with real mountains after my residency in Pennsylvania. I found a job listing at Livingston HealthCare. When I saw pictures of downtown Livingston and the surrounding landscape, I knew I wanted to live here,” Heather explained.
Heather has practiced medicine professionally for 14 years—an aspiration she’s harbored since fifth grade, precipitated when her younger brother, Nate, became extremely ill and was hospitalized at the Akron Children’s Hospital. The hospital’s staff and medical personnel aided Nate to recovery, comforting Heather and her family in the process. This experience, she says, made a major impact on her life, sparking her interest in medicine.
Heather initially considered pediatric nursing, a career her father and stepmother pursued following the premature birth of her youngest brother, who nearly died at birth and spent the first 18 months hospitalized at Akron’s Children Hospital. However, she was curious about advanced topics like treatment physiology and, after her first year studying nursing, decided instead on medical school—the rest, of course, is history.
Due west of Leetonia sits Salem, Ohio, the site for Heather and Duncan’s next adventure. The Akron Children’s Hospital oversees a pediatric clinic there, where Heather will soon continue her practice—a full circle journey to the place that first inspired her to pursue medicine. The silver lining in leaving, she says, is that her new patients are the children of her childhood friends.
Reluctant to say goodbye, Heather expressed gratitude for her friends in Park County, saying “So much thanks to my patients and family—the parents who trusted me with their little ones. It's been an amazing honor and rewarding experience; being there for first breaths and getting to watch these children grow. I will really miss everybody. I loved being here and appreciate the Livingston community.”
Speaking on her colleagues, Heather said, “Working at LHC, I had the best colleagues. There are so many doctors who I know care about this community and their patients.”
Best wishes from the community!