When Dr. Katie Quayle and her husband, Forrest, moved to Hailey in 2018, they immediately realized it would be a wonderful place to raise a family. And as the sole practicing pediatrician at St. Luke’s Wood River for nearly four years, Quayle certainly received her fair share of on-the-job training.
“Working in this small, tight-knit community was incredibly gratifying,” Quayle recalled. “We had our daughter in 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I felt so supported as I tried to put all my training into effect to parent Liv. But I also saw firsthand how young people in the valley were struggling with mental health and psychiatric needs, and that there weren’t enough resources to meet that demand.”
A graduate of Williams College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Quayle had long been interested in child psychiatry but ultimately decided to focus on traditional pediatrics. She did her residency at the University of Utah and then worked at Southridge Pediatrics in Riverton, Utah, before moving to Idaho. Throughout those years, Quayle’s conviction that she needed to take an active role in caring for kids’ mental and emotional health in addition to their physical health never wavered.
“I’ve always tried to get to know each child individually,” Quayle said. “There are so many factors that contribute to a person’s health, and I feel it’s my responsibility to learn about all those elements so I can care for the whole child. The pandemic was such a hard time for so many people, and I leaned heavily on my St. Luke’s behavioral health colleagues for guidance. But I knew I wanted to learn more so I could provide better care.”
In 2022, she was accepted into the Post Pediatric Portal Program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. As one of only two fellows that year, Quayle embarked on a three-year accelerated training program in general and child/adolescent psychiatry to gain the specialized training she so desired. While it was clearly the right step for her career, it also meant trading the great outdoors for a more urban environment and moving halfway across the country with Liv and her 6-month-old baby brother, Wilder.
“We loved this valley, and it was tough to leave, especially for a city where we didn’t know anyone and at a time when we needed a lot of support,” Quayle recalled. “But we all adjusted, and, despite our connection to these mountains, Cleveland became a special place to us in its own way. Now that I’ve completed this program, I know I will approach patients differently and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of it.”
Don’t let her modesty fool you. The program was rigorous and intense, with lots of time with patients and supervision by attendings in the field. All the while, she hoped to return to Idaho and pick back up with patients and families she’d come to know during her tenure here. So when Quayle learned from Katie Schneider, M.D., a family medicine practitioner at St. Luke’s Wood River, that there was an opening in child and adolescent psychiatry and behavioral health, she was overjoyed.
“Forrest and I came out for my interview, and it felt like coming home,” she said. “We really missed it here, and it instantly felt right when we returned.”
Quayle will join the St. Luke’s Wood River behavioral health team in October and is eager to bring much-needed mental health support to the community.
“The Wood River Valley is such a special place,” she noted, “and I was thrilled to learn about all the work being done through the Mental Well-Being Initiative. Being a medical provider in a small community can be intense, but it’s such a draw to practice in a place where people act when they see a need or an area where there’s room for improvement. I’m excited to contribute to this work in any way possible.”
She admitted that being away from relatives in Massachusetts and Maine is hard, but she and her husband are convinced this is the right choice for their family. As part of her psychiatric work, Quayle has seen the effects of screens and time indoors on mental health, so she is hopeful that the move back to Idaho will help them all be more “outdoors oriented” and present in the world.
In August, they dusted off their hiking gear and made the trek back from Cleveland so the kids, now 5 and 3, could get settled before the school year. Liv entered kindergarten, while Wilder, who has recently started biking, is eager to test the trails here.
“The kids are only little for a short time,” Quayle said. “We’re so excited to raise them in the outdoors and expose them to this way of life. And I’m equally excited to serve the valley’s kids again and have the chance to make a real impact.”