Kristen Peros Helmick, M.D.

• Connect with Kristen on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kristenhelmick
• Kristen works as an Internal Medicine physician at Charleston Area Medical Center. 
• Kristen is a 2005 graduate of
  West Virginia University School of Medicine.
• Kristen completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philipi, WV. 
• She has served on the A-B Alumni Council and encourage other students to consider the A-B experience.

Kristen’s Adoption Biography

Kristen Peros Helmick was born as Kristen Lea Peros in Charleston, West Virginia on May 30, 1979. She is the younger of two children for Rick and Sue Peros. Her father worked exceedingly hard as an electrician in the coal mines to provide a comfortable lifestyle for the family. He is currently retired and does experience some health problems, with kidney disease and high blood pressure, however these are under good control.

Her mother is a school nurse and always ready to lend a hand or hug. She is a few years from retirement but still enjoys good health. Kristen’s older sister, Jenny is 33 years of age and very recently moved to San Francisco, California. Hopefully this is a temporary move and she should be back in West Virginia within a few years. Jenny is a public high school teacher and enjoys working with special needs children.  Jenny is currently in a committed relationship and will be the step-mother to three children: Mike 13, Jessica 7, and Jacqueline 3. Kristen’s cousins, Amy Scott 31 and J.D. Turley 27, are more like siblings and they still maintain a close relationship.  Amy is married to Jason and has a 14 month old son, Ashby. Our homes are close together allowing Ashby and Kristen’s son Daniel, ample play dates. J.D. is married to Sabrina and is planning on starting a family in the near future.

Kristen’s childhood

Kristen has so many wonderful childhood memories and the overwhelming theme of her childhood was family.  She was blessed with a rather large, but exceedingly loving family.  Kristen grew up neighboring her grandparents and cousins, Amy and J.D. They typically had a family dinner about four times a week, making it feel as if she were raised with an extended non-traditional family. Kristen has always had a close relationship with her parents, but she also felt very connected to her Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jim, Papaw and Mamaw Turley and great grandmother Turley. Her grandma Peros lived a bit further away so typically visited weekly. Growing up in a holler in rural West Virginia, Kristen spent most of leisure time outside hiking, riding bikes, and playing with family.

Kristen was blessed to be raised in a loving, Christian family. They were very involved in church activities several times a week. Her father Rick was always very level-head, even tempered but stern if he needed to be. He was also quite the prankster and we often helped him pull off pranks for his coworkers in the mines. Her mom was very loving and constantly seeking ways to show love through cooking, sewing, or other acts of service. Kristen had more sheer time with her mother; however her personality is unique mixture from her mom, dad and grandparents- since she spent so much time with them all.  My dad is retired so we spend at least one or two days a week to going to breakfast and finding new adventures for Daniel, Kristen’s son, depending on weather.

Kristen was a tender hearted child and a stern look or word was all the punishment she needed to get the point across. She feels her parents were strict enough and she truly would not change anything about my childhood. They loved her enough to let her learn from her mistakes.  Kristen still sees her parents two to three times a week and they love being very helpful and involved with her son Daniel.

Reflections from growing up

Kristen has many fond memories from childhood but there are a few that stand out. She remembers her dad teaching her to drive and having to ‘earn her speed’. This meant as her driving skills improved she earned a 5 mph increase in speed. Kristen knew people in her small community dreaded getting behind her driving, but she is still a good, paced driver to this day. Growing up was pretty awkward until about tenth grade when she finally came into her own. At this age Kristen started to figure out who she was and who she wanted to be. Overall even through all of these growing pains Kristen was happy and knew she was loved. That type of security and confidence cannot be easily forgotten. Other loving memories of childhood include the massive holiday celebrations at Christmas & Thanksgiving.  She was always so excited to see and visit with extended family during these holidays. She often had about 35-40 family members gather for the Christmas celebration in one home! It was always so much fun! She also remembers the homemade Halloween costumes that her mother had made, and some were better than others! Kristen remembers being a California raison one year and the costume being so big I couldn’t get up or down from a chair or out of a car without a push. Jenny, Amy, J.D. and Kristen always trick or treated together each year and then would switch our bounty to get our favorite candies. So many great memories, Kristen would not change anything about her childhood and hopes to create similar memories for Daniel and her future child.

Kristen’s Education

Her father did not have the privilege to complete his college degree before being drafted into the military, so he impressed on Kristen and her sister the importance of higher education.  She attended Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia from 1997-2001. Alderson-Broaddus is small liberal arts, Baptist College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Kristen loved her college and felt supported by her family, home community, and college professors and staff.

Her biology degree was earned in the woods, swamps, and rivers of rural West Virginia and she holds many dear memories to this time of her life. After college she attended WVU Medical School from 2001-2005 and earned her M.D. Kristen is the first doctor in her family and local community and has had so much love and support to get her to this point in her life. Obviously she was a dedicated student and in college she was very involved in every club and organization on the campus. Kristen ultimately became the student body president and made several positive changes within the college campus. After medical school she was accepted into an Internal Medicine Residency at Charleston Area Medical Center from 2005-2008.

Kristen’s Career

Kristen being so dedicated to her education did not have much free time for part-time jobs.  She worked as an Americorp Mentor which is a summer program for underprivileged children during the summers of 1997 and 1998. This typically involved creating games, reading, and encouraging the children to make positive changes in their life. During college 1997-2001 she worked part time with the work-study program in the admissions office and president’s office. Typically this was clerical in nature and overall very enjoyable. After this Kristen enrolled in medical school and residency from 2001-2008. This clearly was above and beyond a full time job. She completed my residency in 2008 in Internal Medicine and started working in July 2008 as a Hospitalist. Currently Kristen practices general medical care for hospitalized patients at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia. She has never been dismissed from a job.

Kristen’s Family

Currently Kristen is happily married to the love of her life, Paul Helmick. They have an amazing son Daniel born on June 5, 2009. Paul and I have decided to invest all of our time and energy into Daniel. We still see the importance of having alone time and keeping our relationship a priority. We try to live our lives with keeping God as our primary focus and then our relationship then family. I currently work full time however my full time is only 14 days a month. At most Daniel is in daycare 2-3 days a week and with us the rest of the time. Paul and I feel that we have so much love to share with another baby in need. We have truly learned to open our hearts and know that we will love another baby instantly. We strongly feel that a family doesn’t have to be biological but just have love. Even with my upbringing, it never felt unusual to feel that my cousins were my siblings. I just want Daniel to have a large loving family and all the wonderful chaos that that entails.

My guiding philosophy of life is based in Christ. I want and try to live everyday according to the principles I have learned in the Bible and realize that I am truly a work in progress. I also try to focus and remind myself to enjoy the small details in life.