Colby native Dr. Brent Deibert returning home to expand vision care in Northwest Kansas
July 16, 2026
For many people, success means leaving a small town behind. For Dr. Brent Deibert, success has brought him full circle, back to the Oasis on the Plains.
The Colby High School graduate is returning to his hometown this August as a full-time vitreoretinal surgeon at Citizens Health, with him he brings a highly specialized level of healthcare that northwest Kansas hasn’t seen. After years of medical school, residency, fellowship training and practicing in the Denver area, Deibert says the opportunity to return home is one he never expected—but one he couldn't pass up.
"I'm so pumped," Deibert said. "It's so nice to be back home again.”
His arrival marks more than just another physician joining the hospital staff. Citizens Health has been improving their services and capabilities with recent investment in retinal surgical equipment, allowing community residents to receive advanced healthcare for serious eye conditions without the lengthy trips to metro areas.
Once fully operational, Deibert will provide medical and surgical treatment for retinal diseases, including retinal detachments, diabetic eye disease, retinal tears and age-related macular degeneration. Currently patients would have to travel to Wichita, Denver, or other cities for these procedures, but now northwest Kansas will have its own provider, another local kid coming back to provide for his community.
"We'll be the only retinal surgery center in Northwest Kansas shortly," Deibert said.
Before beginning full-time duties, Deibert has already been traveling to Colby several times each month to see patients. The response has exceeded expectations.
"Our clinic is already packed," he said. "We typically help 30 to 40 patients every day we're there."
Many of those patients receive injections that helps prevent vision loss or at least slow the progression caused by diabetes and macular degeneration. Others require laser treatments for retinal tears or more advanced surgical procedures that will soon be available locally.
For patients who previously faced several hours on the road every few weeks for treatment, the change could dramatically improve both convenience and quality of life.
"There are so many people going to Denver just for injections," Deibert said. "This will eliminate that."
A standout athlete during his time at Colby High School, Deibert participated in football, wrestling and powerlifting before continuing his football career at Garden City Community College and then Kansas Wesleyan University. After entering medical school, he spent roughly a decade focused almost exclusively on training before completing a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery and beginning practice in Colorado.
Like many professionals, he once believed his career would remain in a large metropolitan area. But over time, that perspective changed.
"I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that Colby, Kansas, would be my next job," he said.
Now, he brings with him a young family featuring a five-year-old son Bear, and Cindy his expecting wife. There are currently looking for a residence in Colby, and are excited about the future of raising their family back home.
Deibert believes several people are rethinking their decisions to live in the bigger cities, where traffic is increasing, crowds and corporate healthcare systems have adjusted healthcare to be less personal.
"There's just nothing out in the cities anymore," he said. "Everything is so packed."
Returning to Colby also offers something many physicians rarely experience—the opportunity to care for neighbors, classmates, former teachers and families he has known for decades.
"I've been a big believer that coming back home is important," he said.
Citizens Health has already welcomed Deibert through several community visits and a meet-and-greet earlier this year. Hospital leaders have invested in the specialized equipment needed to support retinal surgery, allowing services that previously required referrals outside the region to be performed locally.
For Northwest Kansas residents, his arrival represents another step in Citizens Health's ongoing effort to expand specialty healthcare close to home. Instead of planning day-long trips to Wichita or Denver for consultations, injections or surgery, many patients will soon have those services available right here in Colby.
For Deibert, however, the opportunity means something more personal.
After building a career hundreds of miles away, he's coming home—not just to practice medicine, but to invest in the community that helped shape him.
Beginning in August, that hometown connection will become a new chapter for both Dr. Brent Deibert and the patients whose sight he hopes to preserve for years to come.