Official: News articles about DOs

Medical school posts 'no-vacancy' sign

Lake Erie College's new branch is full, and there's a waiting list of students hoping for admission.

BY JANEL STEPHENS

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Classes are full at East Manatee's new medical school, and about 50 students are on the waiting list to get in.

Letters have gone out to 160 students who have been accepted to the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine campus here. About one-third of those applicants are from Florida, according to college officials.

This year, 2,600 students applied to the medical school, more than in any year since the school opened its main campus in Pennsylvania in 1992 and a 20 percent increase over last year's applications.

Pierre Bellicini, director of communications and marketing for Lake Erie, said Manatee's new campus helped spur the increase. The medical school also extended its March deadline to mid-May to give more students a chance to apply, Bellicini said.

Lake Erie is the first osteopathic college to create a branch campus, said Dr. Robert George, associate dean of academic affairs. It's also the first medical school in Manatee County. The nearest, the University of South Florida College of Medicine, is in Tampa.

"Our announcing the Florida campus definitely had a lot of students interested in going," Bellicini said.

He said the college had a larger marketing campaign than past years. It also recruited heavily at schools in Florida and other southeastern states.

Lake Erie is one of 20 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States.

Doctors of osteopathic medicine are licensed physicians who take a holistic approach to treating patients, with an emphasis on the interrelationship of the body's nerves, muscles, bones and organs, rather than targeting specific symptoms.

The medical school has 15 faculty members and three deans on staff now. It will add 15 more teachers next year, George said.

The 109,000-square-foot, $25 million campus on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard is still under construction but is expected to open late this summer. Freshman orientation is set for Sept. 9, and classes begin Sept. 13.

The three-story medical school will have two lecture halls that can seat about 150 students, along with a basic laboratory and 20 small classrooms.

On-campus housing for students won't come until later, college officials said. However, the school is working with several real estate brokers and management companies to help students find housing.

While LECOM students are interested in transferring to the Sunshine State, they won't get the chance this year. The Bradenton campus will open with a freshman class.

"I did not think that we would get the response that we did for year one," George said. "It's been phenomenal."

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NCH graduates three residents

By AMBER LESTER, Staff Writer July 08, 2004

A study once found that southwest Virginia could never support any type of residency program in hospitals. But with a true pioneer spirit and hard work, Norton Community Hospital has defied the naysayers.

On June 26, the hospital held a graduation ceremony at Lonesome Pine Country Club for three internal medicine residents. When he was told of the study years ago, Dr. Maurice Nida refused to believe the results. Not only was establishing a residency program possible, but it was needed.

"There was a need to train hometown kids to become hometown doctors," Nida said in a recent interview. "It used to be that foreign doctors would come in, fulfill their obligations, get their green cards and leave the area."

In 1996, the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine was established in Pikeville, Ky. Nida heard about the school from a pharmaceutical representative. A few days later, Nida called John Strosnider, the medical school dean, to offer to help educate students in any way he could.

Not long after that conversation, Strosnider traveled to a hospital in Ashland, Ky. to discuss the possibility of setting up a residency program. In his speech at the graduation ceremony last month, Strosnider conveyed the cold attitude of the Ashland staff.

"They thought we were foolish to have a D.O. school in the foothills of Kentucky," he said, referring to a doctor of osteopathy program. Osteopaths focus on treating the whole person, rather than one particular illness. Most become primary care physicians.

When Strosnider paid a visit to Norton Community Hospital, however, he was pleased to find a much more receptive atmosphere.

"Norton was warm, gracious and curious," he said.

The school made an agreement to send students to Norton for a new internal medicine residency program.

SETTING IT UP

Before the hospital could accept students, it had to make the transition from a community hospital to a teaching center. Nurses had to be taught how to deal with the interns, and learn how much authority the new students would have. The hospital had to obtain Drug Enforcement Administration registration numbers, which allow interns to write prescriptions. It also had to build a library of reference tools. Finally, the hospital had to get certified by the American Osteopathic Association.

"We're independent," boasts Nida. "We can issue certificates as an individual education body."

In 2001, Norton Community Hospital was ready to accept its first resident students.

In the program, students enter their residency as interns, having completed medical school. They spend the first year rotating through the sub-specialties, such as pediatrics and gynecology. New interns also spend every fifth or sixth night at the hospital. They continue through their second and third years before graduating as fully capable attending physicians. This month, a new group of 12 residents and interns started the program.

"Each year, the growth and maturity increases," said Nida. "We hope by the third year that they're ready to go out into the community as physicians."

MEET THE DOCTORS

The recent graduates all entered the program with a specific interest in helping the people of the mountains. All three, Craig Graul, David Sheppard and Jody Bentley, come from small towns themselves. When choosing their specialty, each was drawn to osteopathy because of its slightly different philosophy toward treating patients.

The osteopathic field believes in treating the "whole" patient, rather than just one illness. Osteopaths also receive extensive training in manipulative treatment, the musculoskeletal system and preventive treatment. Most are trained to be primary care physicians. For these doctors, one of the biggest appeals of internal medicine was the emphasis on getting to know the patient.

"It isn't just running tests, but actually getting to know a patient," Graul said. "You have to dig a little deeper."

Osteopathic doctors often practice primary care in rural areas. It was the need for hometown doctors that pushed Jody Bentley into osteopathy.

"The people of southeastern Kentucky need to be able to relate commonality and speak the same dialect," Bentley said. "I know what they know and they know what I know."

The three doctors all grew up in rural Appalachia. Graul hails from Versailles, Ky. while Bentley is a native of Hazard, Ky. Both men attended University of Kentucky and then the Pikeville College School of Osteopathy. Sheppard grew up in Foster, W.Va, a town that he describes as "a very small town, smaller than Norton." He attended the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine before moving to Norton to begin the residency program.

All three new doctors remember the first year as chaotic. Though they were embraced by the staff and patients, the program was certainly in the trial-and-error stage.

"Initially when there were just three of us, it seemed like nothing worked," said Graul. "Getting attendings to do lectures was a challenge, but that's smoothed out tremendously."

"We were the guinea pigs," agrees Sheppard. "We took call every third night."

With no one to hold their hands, the doctors were aware from the beginning of their responsibility.

"From the first night, I was completely by myself except a phone connection to attending doctors," Graul recollects. "Sometimes I would get so far into it, I was too proud to call. But it gave us an edge because nobody was in front of us - we were doing it."

EXPERIENCE GIVES AN EDGE

Being the first students in a small program was anything but a hindrance. The doctors unanimously agree that joining the residency program at Norton gave them an edge over their classmates at larger hospitals.

"We had more hands-on training as far as performing procedures," said Sheppard. "We saw a variety of diseases that my friends at bigger places didn't see. Here, you're not just a person in a line watching a procedure."

Bentley agrees, stressing the diversity of pathology available at more rural hospitals.

"Anybody who thinks you won't see diverse pathology is wrong," he said. "One hundred percent of the people who told me I wouldn't see it either haven't been here, have never practiced rurally, or are not involved in academics."

Nida, too, has felt the advantage of having interns in the office.

"My patients have come to enjoy being part of the educational process," he said. "When patients trust attending physicians, they are more receptive to students."

Nida's main goal for the residency program was to train the doctors here and hope they would choose to stay. When Graul interviewed with Nida he told him, "If I come here, I'll stay." True to his word, Graul has agreed to practice at Dickenson County Hospital.

"He'll do Dickenson proud," said Nida.

Sheppard will remain with Nida at Norton Community Hospital. Bentley will graduate in December, but will continue to work with Norton Community Hospital following his completion.

As they begin their medical careers, the doctors will remember all the advice and important lessons they learned from their experiences with Nida.

"He taught me to always listen to my patients," said Graul. "If you really listen to what they are saying, you won't miss things you shouldn't miss." "He told us, 'If you think of it, do it,'" adds Bentley. "Dr. Nida raised us from the ground up," said Sheppard. "He's been a mentor."

Nida found that teaching was the best form of education he could get.

"You are never too old to learn. As educators, they've made us better doctors."

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Appalachia gets first crop of own doctors
40 from Pikeville school begin opening offices
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By ROGER ALFORD
Associated Press

PIKEVILLE, Ky. ? Painfully aware that recruitment programs alone weren't enough to fill the need for physicians, people in central Appalachia pulled off a radical plan.

They created their own medical school and began training their own doctors.

The first 40 homegrown physicians from the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine finished their residency programs earlier this month and have begun opening offices in communities throughout the mountain region. Hundreds more are in the pipeline.

"It's been a long road," said Dr. Thad Manning, who will begin his practice next month at Regina, a tiny coalfield community about 10 miles south of Pikeville. "You're talking quite a long period that you put your life on hold, without work, without income, but there's just such a need for medical care in this area."

When Paintsville attorney Chad Perry first proposed a medical school in Eastern Kentucky a decade ago, he said people scoffed. When he put up the first $1 million to help pay for such a school, even the naysayers stopped and took notice.

Now the 75-year-old Perry has a Pikeville graduate as one of his personal physicians.

"When I recommended we start a medical school in Eastern Kentucky, a few people said that Perry fellow must have something wrong with him; that can't be done," Perry said. "It's a blessing that's been a long time in coming."

For decades, the region has worked hard to improve doctor-patient ratios, primarily by recruiting physicians from other states and countries. Even so, the region only has about one primary care physician for every 1,200 people, said John Strosnider, dean of the Pikeville medical school. The ratio is even lower in the region's most economically distressed counties.

Owsley County, with 4,800 residents, has only two doctors, for example. Strosnider said that falls far short of the standard in urban areas of one primary-care physician for every 900 people.

"I could go to a larger city, to Lexington, to Louisville but what you do there really doesn't make the difference like it does here," Manning said.

The Pikeville medical school, established in 1996 with $10 million from private, corporate and government donors, now has 270 students, with 180 more going through three-year residency programs.

Osteopaths undergo similar training to medical doctors, and like MDs can prescribe drugs and perform surgeries. Osteopathic medicine places a special emphasis on the relationship of organs and body systems.

Graduates are not only encouraged to work in communities with few doctors; they're expected to.


Manning said starting a medical school in the region was a great idea.


"Actually being trained here, I think, prepares us better to practice here," he said. "Out of the doctors coming out of the Pikeville residency program, we're all staying somewhere out here in Appalachia."


Strosnider said the medical school would not be fulfilling its directive if most graduates didn't open offices in the mountains.

"Our mission was to try to get physicians who would be willing to practice in rural Appalachia," Strosnider said. "That's what they're doing. Most of them were picked from this area, trained in this area, and did residencies in this area. They speak the language. They know the needs. That's the ideal family practice physician."

Strosnider said this year's crop of physicians won't be nearly enough to eliminate the deficit.

"There's a big gap here. We hope over the years to fill that gap."

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International News

U.S. Trained D.O.s Recognized Equal to M.D.s in Canada

For several years the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and Canadian Osteopathic Association (COA) have been working to expand US-trained osteopathic physician rights in all of the Canadian provinces, especially in Ontario, Canada?s largest province.

In September 2003 the AOA and Canadian Osteopathic Association (COA) met with delegates of The College of Physicians & Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) and the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) about extending US-trained D.O.s practice rights throughout Canada. Since that meeting the CPSO has adopted a policy stating that US-trained D.O.s with AOA-accredited education are recognized equivalently to M.D.s in Canada. This policy allows US-trained D.O.s to go to Ontario and sit for the licensing examination and to gain practice rights there.

To learn more please visit the CPSO?s Web site.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) has also made strides towards acceptance of US-trained D.O.s practicing in Canada. In May 2003 the CFPC Board of Directors resolved that osteopathic physicians that have graduated from an AOA accredited College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a residency through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) may sit for the CFPC?s Certification Examination in Family Medicine.

To learn more about the requirements to sit for the CFPC?s Certification Examination, please visit the Eligibility Requirements & General Information section of the CFPC Web site at

For further information on both the CPSO and the CFPC related to D.O. practice rights, download this article which discusses the advances made for US-trained D.O. practice rights in Canada.

If you have any further questions please contact Joshua Kerr at [email protected] or (800) 621-1773 x8196.

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Flexible fitness: Prevention the best treatment
By Dr. Darren Rosenberg / News Correspondent
Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Each year, 15 percent to 45 percent of Americans suffer from back pain, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' "Healthy People 2010: Arthritis, Osteoporosis and Chronic Back Conditions" report.

Back pain can occur as a result of bad personal health habits and personal risk factors such as smoking, excessive weight gain, lack of exercise, lack of flexibility and unnecessary strain on the back.

Depending on the cause, back pain can occur in different areas of the back while inflicting different types and degrees of pain. Some patients experience the occasional dull pain. Others suffer from constant agonizing pain making even the simplest movements difficult. Either way, both types prohibit people from completing normal daily activities.

To reduce the risk of suffering from back pain, patients must understand what causes unnecessary strain on the back. Once patients understand the causes, they can figure out ways to eliminate them from their lives.

Years of bad posture is the cause of back pain for many. Practicing the habit of sitting up straight can prevent back pain, as well as using correct form when lifting heavy items or when completing daily tasks. Whether you work construction or spend your days typing on a computer, the way you sit, twist, bend, lift things and even relax may either cause or prevent back pain. Those who practice good posture when sitting, use their legs when lifting and eliminate awkward twisting and bending throughout the day will most likely experience the least amount of back pain.

Other tips for preventing or minimizing the occurrence of back pain include refraining from excessive strenuous activities, and limiting the amount of time spent performing heavy manual labor and participating in strenuous sports.

If avoiding strenuous activities and taking preventive measures do not prevent back pain, or an existing condition worsens, a visit to the physician's office is necessary. After examining a patient with chronic back pain, a physician can determine if surgery, medication or other forms of treatment may solve the problem. Muscle relaxers or pain relievers may help to relieve the pain. In some cases, surgery might be needed to repair damaged muscle or tissue responsible for causing pain.

Another form of treatment that can be offered to patients by an osteopathic physician (D.O) is called osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT).

OMT is a hands on-on treatment where the D.O. uses their hands to examine the back and other parts of the body such as joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles, for pain and restriction during motion that could signal an injury or impaired function. OMT can be helpful in relieving back pain as well as relieving discomfort and musculoskeletal abnormalities associated with a number of disorders including asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, menstrual pain, sinus disorders, and migraines.

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1999 reported that patients receiving OMT for low back pain required significantly less medication and less physical therapy than those who didn't receive OMT.

Regardless of the method of treatment your physician chooses for your situation, practicing healthy habits and taking preventive measures will reduce your chances of suffering from back pain whether you are 5 years old or 75 years old. Taking care of your body before a problem appears is always the best medicine.

Darren Rosenberg, D.O., is a graduate of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his residency at Johns Hopkins/Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. He is an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a staff physiatrist at Spaulding Framingham specializing in musculoskeletal conditions and osteopathic manipulative treatment.

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Osteopathic college takes huge step
New research facilities are dedicated as the school's program has grown faster than expected.

By Kevin Miller

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine formally dedicated new research facilities in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center on Thursday, marking a symbolic expansion for an institution that welcomed its first class of students less than one year ago.

Faculty and researchers in the private medical college have been using laboratory space at Virginia Tech under a joint agreement between the two institutions. But the osteopathic school's research program has grown faster than expected. Officials expect the college's external research funding to exceed $12 million this academic year, up from $4.8 million last year.

When a building in Tech's Corporate Research Center became available, the college decided to move several research programs into a stand-alone building earlier than planned, said Dr. Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, the school's dean.

"It's a happy thing when you outgrow your original space," Tooke-Rawlins said during a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.

Private donors and foundations established the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine several years ago to produce doctors - especially primary care physicians - willing to work in medically underserved communities in Southwest Virginia and throughout Appalachia.

Osteopathic doctors, or D.O.s, can provide all of the same services as the more common doctor of allopathy, or M.D. But because of osteopathic medicine's whole body, or holistic, approach to treatments, more osteopaths go into family or primary care rather than a medical specialty.

This week, the college's inaugural class is completing its first year of the four-year program. The second class of roughly 150 students will arrive in August.

The school's founders chose Blacksburg to be close to Virginia Tech, which is in the midst of an aggressive research drive. Many of the medical college's faculty members have joint appointments at Tech or use Tech research facilities. In return, Tech has ready access to medical researchers and can count the osteopathic school's research funding toward the university's total.

The facilities officially unveiled Thursday will allow those research programs to continue their rapid growth, Tooke-Rawlins said.

The college will occupy six large laboratories, several smaller labs and a few offices in a building that once housed a medical research company. Each lab will be assigned to a specific researcher, several of whom have already moved into their new facilities.

James Mahaney, an associate professor and discipline chairman of biochemistry with the college, is researching the role that calcium movement plays in heart disease. Mahaney, who also has an appointment in Tech's chemistry department, said his new 1,000-square-foot lab offers the best equipment, supplies and access to colleagues he has ever had in his career.

"Once we got this space and were able to bring all of the medical researchers together, it turned out to be a better situation for me to be part of the medical group," Mahaney said.

Down the hallway from Mahaney, Beverly Rzigalinski is still setting up her laboratory. A recent transplant from the University of Central Florida, Rzigalinski is doing cutting-edge research into using nanoparticles - that is, particles measuring in the range of one billionth of a meter - to prolong the life of brain cells or help fight inflammation.

Other labs will be used for research into cancer, auto-immune diseases and pharmacology. School officials also plan to open another research facility near the college's main building in the Corporate Research Center by 2007.

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Race raises money for medical mission

Medical students at Nova Southeastern University know that Jamaica is not just glistening beaches and learning is more than classrooms and textbooks.

BY EILEEN SOLER

Special to The Herald


On your mark, get set, save lives.

More that 250 runners turned out on a recent Saturday at Orangebrook Golf & Country Club in Hollywood for a cross-country race to help people an ocean away.

''Runners love to run, but if we can do it for a good cause, it's even better,'' said Steve Tayon, a Miramar pharmacist and marathon runner flanked by his sons, Kevin, 11, and Matthew, 13, both runners-in-training.

The race was the first Fairway 5K and Fun Walk to help finance the 4-year-old Nova Southeastern University Jamaican Medical Mission. Runners paid $25 each to participate.

The outreach was launched six years ago with medical missions to Haiti in 1998 and 1999. Since 2000, about 100 NSU students, teachers, volunteers and teachers have provided free, immediate healthcare 10 days a year for up to 2,500 of Jamaica's most underprivileged and underserved.

Donnell Bowen, 24, of Davie, a student at NSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine and president of the school's chapter of the Student National Medical Association, said he organized the Fairway Run with fellow student Anne Duskin, 27, of Fort Lauderdale.

Duskin is president of the Students of Florida Osteopathic Medical Association at NSU.

Bowen said the race kicked off a year of fundraisers to help pay for the 2005 mission. The 10-day effort in the poorest neighborhoods of Kingston, St. Mary and other island parishes will be Bowen's first.

''Jamaica is a great place to go in the first place, but to go there and help people is a very big deal for med students,'' Bowen said.

The 2004 mission was in June.

Nicole Henry, 30, of Fort Lauderdale, a member of both student groups and a second-year student of osteopathic medicine, said the experience was unforgettable.

Henry and other students assisted general practitioners, dentists, optometrists, occupational and physical therapists, nutritionists and pharmacists on the arduous trip.

''The minute I stepped off the plane, I was at home, but this Jamaica wasn't the same resort I visited before,'' said Henry, who spent past vacations there with family members who live on the island.

Henry said she saw a Jamaica where people cannot afford the most basic care for illnesses considered completely controllable in the United States, such as hypertension and diabetes.

Volunteers also served patients at three prisons, where healthcare is practically nonexistent.

''Some of the visit was heart-wrenching. We met patients that wait every year for our visit to get the only care they might see for another 12 months,'' Henry said.

To donate medical supplies, medications, equipment or money for the 2005 Nova Southeastern University Jamaican Medical Mission, call Dr. Paula Anderson-Worts at 954-262-1463 or Lashonda Linton at 954-262-1202.

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Skin doctor opens office in S. County

By Ellen G. Lahr
Berkshire Eagle Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON -- The South County physician mix now includes a full-time dermatologist, who has ramped up with 58 new patient visits in his first three days in business.
His fast start, he said, is mainly because of rapid referrals from local doctors who have been sending patients to Pittsfield specialists for years.

But those Pittsfield trips have often been preceded with waits that can last months, a frustration for primary-care doctors whose patients have suspicious skin problems.

Dr. Scott Goffin has set up his office at the East Mountain Medical building on South Main Street, sharing space with ophthalmologist Dr. Joseph Gold and cosmetic surgeon Dr. George Csank, a Pittsfield-based practitioner who works part time in Great Barrington.

"I guess everybody's heard there's a new guy in town," said Goffin, 35, a board-certified family practitioner who has just completed his training in the dermatology specialty. "It seems like the right thing for this town."

"All comers are welcome," and can be seen within a week or two, Goffin said.

He was reluctant to make a big move to a rural area to try to set up a medical practice, he said. But when he did an Internet search for dermatologists in Great Barrington, he found not a one.

He was acquainted with Gold from their hometown in Long Island, N.Y., and Gold, who relocated here a few years ago, was encouraging.

Goffin said he'll be treating all dermatological disorders, performing minor surgery and practicing some cosmetic dermatology. With a background in family practice, he said he's comfortable seeing patients of all age groups.

Skin cancer screening will be an important aspect of his practice, he said.

Goffin is one of a number of specialists who have made moves from urban areas to Southern Berkshire County with their medical practices and families.

Besides Gold, who initially joined Dr. Stephen Moore in his ophthalmology practice a few years ago, Dr. Philip Bhark moved here from the Philadelphia area a few years ago to bring cardiology services to Fairview Hospital. South County previously had no full-time cardiologists.

Pittsfield-area specialists have rotated periodically in South County, often on a weekly basis, to provide specialty care services, but area medical professionals say there has been a growing need for full-time specialists.

A call to the office of Dr. Behzad Parhizgar, a Pittsfield dermatologist, revealed that new patients with a nonemergency condition will have to wait until November for an appointment.

For a time, his practice was closed to new patients, but has recently reopened, he said.

Parhizgar said there's a nationwide shortage of dermatologists; the problem is not unique to Berkshire County.

In fact, with six practicing in the county -- two of whom are in North County -- the area is better served than many, he said.

Parhizgar said there are 2,017 counties in the United States -- representing 47 million people -- that have no skin disease specialists. His own search for an associate for his practice has been unsuccessful because it's hard to attract practitioners to Pittsfield, he said.

Dr. Fred Mensch has held rotating office hours periodically in South County, and Dr. Richard Greene also practices in Pittsfield.

Mensch's office was closed Friday, but a receptionist at Greene's office, who declined to give her name, said the office has a sizable caseload of South County patients. Any new patients calling now won't get an appointment until October, she said.

"We are so happy Dr. Goffin has opened his practice down there," she said. "The dermatologists have been trying to get someone to come in for a while."

In June, Goffin completed his residency in dermatology at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Long Island, and is now eligible for board certification. He also has served as a faculty fellow and chief resident in the hospital's department of family medicine.

He received his osteopathic medicine degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1996, when he graduated with honors and was ranked third in his class. He is now on staff at Fairview Hospital.

He and his wife and two children live on North Plain Road in Housatonic.

Eugene A. Dellea, president of Fairview Hospital, said there's been a real need for a local dermatologist because South County patients have waited six weeks or more for appointments with Pittsfield doctors.

"They just can't handle the workload," Dellea said.

Goffin will work a half-day per week at the Hillcrest Family Health Center in Pittsfield as well, Dellea said. "We want him to be successful and want to help get him started."

Parhizgar said Goffin will have no trouble filling his schedule.

"We welcome him," said Parhizgar.

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Society of Chest Pain Centers Announces Robert Stomel, DO as New President

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Chest Pain Centers
(SCPC) has chosen Robert Stomel, DO, FACOI, FACC, FCCP as the new president ofthe organization. Previously Chairman of the SCPC Accreditation Committee, Dr. Stomel's experience as Chief of Cardiology at Botsford General Hospital and Director of its Cardiac Fellowship Program clearly states his ability to take over this position to continue to improve Chest Pain Centers in hospitals across the United States.

Dr. Stomel is a leader in the field of invasive cardiology, pacemakers and
cardiovascular managed care. He is President-elect of the Michigan Osteopathic Association (MOA), on the Board of Directors of the Physician Review Organization of Michigan (PROM), Professional Credential Verification Service Inc. (PCVS) and lectures extensively on the cost effective treatment of cardiovascular care. He is also immediate past-President of the American
College of Osteopathic Internists.

"Chest Pain Center accreditation is an important healthcare issue. The
public has a right to know which hospitals have dedicated chest pain programs. Unfortunately, in Michigan and throughout the United States, there is great variability in how chest pain is treated at each hospital. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to standardize the treatment of chest pain throughout the world. The protocols and guidelines already exist and we need to follow them," said Dr. Stomel, Chief of Cardiology at Botsford General
Hospital.

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with
600,000 dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans
visit hospitals each year with chest pain. The goal of the Society of Chest
Pain Centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients
by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a
possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and
increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.

The Chest Pain Center's protocol driven and systematic approach to patient
management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical
early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to
better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a
coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent
home too early nor needlessly admitted.

With the rise of Chest Pain Centers came the need to establish standards
designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients.
The Society's accreditation process insures centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.

Once a Chest Pain Center has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to
quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria
and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest
Pain Centers the facility is granted accreditation for their ER Chest Pain
Center. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise
include:
- Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical
system
- Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly
- Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome
and no assignable cause for their symptoms
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to
promptly seek medical care if they have display symptoms of a possible
heart attack

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional
society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes
and related maladies. The Society is committed to improving the quality of
patient care through protocol-based medicine and the adoption of process
improvement science to healthcare. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit http://www.scpcp.org .
For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers, please contact
Robert Weisenburger Lipetz, Executive Director at (614) 274-9710 or
[email protected].

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Amy B said:

Great reading. I personally have enjoyed reading the articles you find. Of course the VCOM articles are the best 😍 😎 Keep them coming. I think we should make this post a sticky so people can find it faster.

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Retired surgeon enjoys sharing knowledge of medicine

By Liz Best, Special to Neighborhood Post
Wednesday, July 21, 2004

When arthritis forced Jupiter resident Dr. Jack Lighton to put down his scalpel, he wasted very little time in stepping up to the lectern.

Lighton is retired in the sense that he is no longer a practicing vascular surgeon. But Lighton, who says he loves teaching as much as he does operating, doesn't consider himself retired in the traditional sense at all.

Lighton is a certified wound care specialist, and was recently named to the physician's advisory board of the National Healing Center based in Boca Raton.

He is a member of a panel of three physicians who meet regularly to review cases and work with doctors and nurses at the healing center's 40-plus client hospitals around the country. The job involves teaching, and Lighton says he thrilled to have been invited aboard.

"We meet every month and have anywhere from 40 to 50 doctors and nurses who come through for training," said Lighton, who retired in 1995. "I do miss the operating room, but I miss it because I can't teach."

He considers himself lucky to be able to continue doing what he loves.

Born and raised on the shores of Lake Michigan in Muskegon, Mich., Lighton was an only child who was forced into an early adulthood soon after his high school graduation when his father died.

Lighton worked his way through college and took care of his mother.

It was a difficult time, but in his typical way of making lemonade out of lemons, Lighton turned the experience into something positive.

He was studying mortuary science at Wayne State University when he got a job as an orderly in a hospital emergency room.

"That tweaked my interest (in medicine)," he said.

So, the would-be undertaker changed his major and, after graduating from Wayne State, attended medical school at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, at which he graduated with honors.

After completing a fellowship in vascular surgery at St. John Hospital in Detroit, Lighton joined the staff at Mount Clemens General Hospital in Mount Clemens, Mich., and went on to become chief of surgery there.

At the same time, he and his wife Marilyn were raising three children and making frequent trips to the Jupiter area where they had a vacation home.

Lighton was practicing medicine at a time when wound care was just coming into its own. He started a wound care center at the hospital in Mt. Clemens and said that even though there weren't many such centers at the time, he doesn't consider himself a pioneer in the field.

"The research people are the pioneers," he said, adding that chronic nonhealing wound care research dates back to the 1960s.

By the 1980s, wound care centers started popping up and today it is a booming field.

"There is so much medicine involved... (almost) $3 billion is spent annually to treat chronic nonhealing wounds," said Lighton.

He is somewhat disheartened by the financial problems Florida doctors face. "There is no profession in the world that doesn't have errors in judgment, but to pay the amount some of these physicians are paying... just to go to work and try to do the best they can ... it's too much politics."

Arthritis keeps Lighton from doing some of the outdoor activities he loves, such as playing golf and boating, but it can't stop him from doing what he loves the most.

"I enjoy teaching so much these doctors and nurses who are going to be taking care of people with chronic nonhealing wounds ... I can't imagine really retiring."


Is there another profession you'd like to try?

"I would like to be a detective."

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Dr. Yardlie Toussaint-Foster is the newest member of the Oswego Hospital and Oswego County OB/GYN staff. She is a recent graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and residency program. She received her Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Toussaint-Foster and her husband, Herbert Foster, chose Oswego from 7-8 other hospitals because of the small city atmosphere and compatibility of the Oswego County OB/GYN practice to her own vision of care for patients.

Dr. Toussaint-Foster was born in her native country of Haiti and, at a young age, moved to Boston, Massachusetts where she developed a love for medicine.

"I remember suturing my dolls when I was little," she said. "I also remember bandaging my friends when they would get hurt. One time, I think I used about six band-aids for a small cut on my friends finger."

Coming from a family of several nurses, Dr. Toussaint-Foster went to school at Brooklyn College knowing she wanted to become a doctor. Her first interest was emergency medicine.

"I wanted to go into emergency medicine until my first experience in OB/GYN," she said. "Everything changed after that and I knew that was the field I wanted to work in."

Dr. Toussaint-Foster is pleased with her decision to go into OB/GYN.

"To me, every delivery is like my first," she said. "The other advantage of OB/GYN, is that you are a complete physician. You provide primary care, surgical care and maternity care. It's a wide ranging field for a physician."

Dr. Toussaint-Foster experienced delivery from the patient's perspective three short months ago when she gave birth to her son, Daniel. She now has an even broader range of experience to draw from when caring for her future patients in Oswego.

She complimented her M.D. training by becoming a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.). A D.O. receives the same training as an M.D. with additional training in manipulative therapy using their hands as medical tools in addition to other tools.

"My training as a D.O. has taught me many ways to relieve pain in my patients and this can be an advantage in gynecological and obstetrical situations," she said.

Oswego Hospital Administrator and CEO Corte Spencer said, "We are pleased to welcome Dr. Yardlie Toussaint-Foster and her family to Oswego. She is a very personable individual who I am sure our community will benefit from in having her expertise available."

The Oswego County OB/GYN staff includes: Joseph Edmund Mather, MD; Ronald Uva, MD; Joseph Edward Mather, MD; Daniel Coty, DO; Deborah Pelkey, CNP; Diane Whaley-Melnick , CNM, CNP; Judith DiMarco, FNP and Catherine Tambroni-Parker, CNM. Offices are located in Oswego, Fulton and Mexico. For more information, or for an appointment, call 343-2590 or visit www.ocobgyn.net.

There are more than 110 physicians on the Oswego Hospital Medical Staff in more than 25 specialties. For more information, call the Oswego Hospital Physician Referral Line at 349-5500 or visit www.oswegohealth.org.

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(nicedream) said:

In that OBGYN article, it says she "complimented her MD training with a DO program" or something. Is that a mistake?

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Hospital names ER director

Dr. Bonnie Simmons has been appointed chairwoman and medical director of the emergency department at Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park.
Previously, Simmons served as director of emergency medicine, the hyperbaric unit and prehospital care at the Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan. She spent seven years as director of emergency medicine at North General Hospital in Manhattan.

"As a highly respected and nationally recognized expert in emergency operations and EMS services, Dr. Simmons brings a new level of crisis preparedness to Lutheran," said Lutheran's president and chief executive officer, Wendy Goldstein.

"Her 'whole person' approach to medicine and strong commitment to preventive care make her an ideal addition to Lutheran's staff," Goldstein said.

Simmons is a graduate of Columbia University and New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. She did her residency in at Lincoln Hospital in Manhattan and is certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

"If an emergency department is to be successful, it must be an integral part of its community," Simmons said.

She helped develop Emergency Medical Service disaster planning for hospitals in the metropolitan area, the New York City Fire Department and the state's 911 system. She recently served as chairwoman of the N.Y.C. American Heart Association's Operation Heartbeat, a national initiative to improve sudden cardiac arrest survival rates.

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Gwinnett commissioners approve special-use permit for medical school


By Bryan Brooks
Staff Writer
[email protected]

LAWRENCEVILLE ? Gwinnett County commissioners quickly approved a special-use permit Tuesday night for a private medical school that will go near Suwanee.The permit will let the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine establish a branch campus in Northbrook Business Park on Old Peachtree Road.

Work on transforming a former Uptons clothing warehouse into a school building will begin in October, and the first class of roughly 80 students is expected in August 2005.
?We are enormously excited about coming here,? the college?s president, Dr. Matthew Schure, told county commissioners.
Commissioners seemed pleased the county is adding another higher education facility.

?Let me say, you will not be able to move into this too fast,? Commissioner Marcia Neaton told school officials.
A national search for faculty will begin next month, said Dr. John Fleischmann, who is executive director of the Gwinnett campus.

Initially the campus will have around 12 full-time instructors, but within four years it is expected to grow to about 320 students and 30 employees.
Commission Chairman Wayne Hill said the branch campus could find itself in the same bind as the Gwinnett University Center, where student enrollment grew much quicker than expected, necessitating a push for more classroom space.

The 105-year-old private school chose metro Atlanta for a campus because it wants to expand the presence of osteopathic medicine in the Southeast, and help fill the need for primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas, said Schure, who flew to Atlanta from Philadelphia for the commission meeting.
Doctors of osteopathic medicine are fully qualified physicians licensed to perform surgery and prescribe medication. But instead of just treating specific symptoms, they regard the body as an integrated whole and practice a ?whole person? approach to medicine, Evans said.

When the renovation is complete, the interior of the 149,885-square-foot building will have a mall environment, Fleischmann said. It will have two atriums and lots of glass, he said.

Schure said the school picked Gwinnett for two reasons.
?This is a huge growth area,? Schure said. ?Gwinnett County is booming.?
Also, ?There is a need for additional physicians in Georgia and the South,? he said.

Planning for a regional campus in metro Atlanta began about two years ago, Schure said. Since then, the campus has received approval from four separate regional accrediting agencies, he said.

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Local News

Surgeon joins staff at CMH

By ERICA KOLASKI
Tribune Staff Writer

CHEBOYGAN - A new physician has joined its staff of Cheboygan Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Eric Miller has joined the hospital's medical staff and will be seeing patients at the Cheboygan Surgical Associates office in the West Medical Arts Building, said CMH spokeswoman Tamara Stevens.

Miller recently completed his final year of general surgery residency at Tulsa Regional Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., where he was chief resident, said Stevens.

Prior to his residency he completed an internship at St. John Detroit Riverview Hospital in Detroit.

Stevens said that Miller grew up in Covina, Calif., and graduated from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, with his bachelor's degree in political science in 1991. She said that Miller spent a year in the insurance business before deciding to study medicine.

He graduated in 1999 from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo.

Miller and his wife, Melissa, have some Michigan connections as her grandfather was a doctor in Garden City, Mich., and her uncle is an emergency room physician in Ludington.

"We were very impressed with Dr. Burandt and Dr. Duncan's practice," said Miller, about starting practice in Cheboygan. He said he has also been active in medical missions both in Haiti and Nigeria.

Miller said his immediate goals are for board certification and to develop his surgical skills, and that he is also considering full-time mission work.

Stevens said that Miller and his wife enjoy outdoor activities such as jogging, camping, and skiing, and they are both looking forward to snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

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Fewer new DOs picking primary care
The number of new osteopathic residents choosing subspecialties is growing.
By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. March 15, 2004.

Some 30% of applicants from the 2003-04 class of senior osteopathic medical students matched with primary care programs during the American Osteopathic Assn. Intern/Resident Registration Program in February.

Roughly 60% of practicing DOs are in primary care, according to the AOA, but Mitchell Kasovac, DO, who is past president of the AOA and director of medical education at Mesa General Hospital in Phoenix, confirmed that DOs, like MDs, increasingly are moving into subspecialties.

"There is growing interest in subspecialties from the DOs," Dr. Kasovac said. "When I graduated, 85% to 90% of the DOs of that time went into primary care. Gradually, about 10 years ago, it got down to 65%, and today it's more like 50%."

Dr. Kasovac said emergency medicine and orthopedics are two popular residencies among DOs.

Interest in residencies through the allopathic physicians' National Residency Matching Program was evident this year as well.

Some 1,205 or 43.5% of the 2003-04 graduating class of 2,769 osteopathic students opted for osteopathic residencies, while the rest of the class did not participate.

About 60% of DOs are in primary care.
In recent years, roughly 40% to 50% of the graduates from osteopathic medical schools chose to find residencies through the Match, which offers a broader geographic distribution of programs and more subspecialty positions.

A number of programs in the Match are accredited by both the osteopaths and the allopaths.

According to the NRMP, there were 1,408 osteopathic physicians who participated in the 2003 NRMP Match, with 995 of them landing PGY-1 positions. Of these, 66% matched with primary care residencies.

The 2004 NRMP Match had not yet taken place at press time.

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Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and TeraRecon Announce Luminary Relationship
SAN MATEO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 08/03/2004 -- TeraRecon announced today it has entered into a luminary site agreement with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM). PCOM will use TeraRecon's UF-750XT portable color Doppler Ultrasound systems for clinical practice, research applications, and hands-on teaching of ultrasound imaging techniques to radiologists, osteopathic physicians, and medical students.

Ultrasound is being widely adopted by Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) in the assessment and visualization of the musculoskeletal system. Ultrasound imaging assists the physician in the rapid evaluation of soft tissue, tendon, ligament and muscle injuries. Color Doppler ultrasound also allows for rapid and accurate assessment and imaging of abdominal pathology and for various peripheral arterial and venous conditions. Teaching best practices in the use of ultrasonic imaging to medical imaging professionals is essential for confirmation of and confidence in clinical diagnosis.

About Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)

For more than a century, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine has trained highly competent physicians, health practitioners, and behavioral scientists that practice a "whole person" approach, treating people, not just symptoms. PCOM offers the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree and graduate programs in psychology, physician assistant studies, forensic medicine, organizational development and leadership, and biomedical sciences. Our students learn the importance of health promotion, education and service to the community and, through PCOM's five Healthcare Centers, provide care to the medically underserved populations in inner city and rural locations.

About TeraRecon, Inc. (www.terarecon.com)

TeraRecon Inc. is a technology-driven provider of advanced imaging systems and solutions for medical, geophysical, and industrial applications, with solutions based on its unique and patented image processing technologies. The company has developed a leading portfolio of products that advance the performance, quality, functionality, and integration of image processing and 3D visualization systems. Founded in 1997, TeraRecon has developed a unique family of powerful processors that are used in its real-time post-processing workstations, enterprise-wide 3D servers, portable Doppler ultrasound scanners, high-performance CT & ultrasound reconstruction engines, and real-time 3D volume rendering hardware engines. TeraRecon is a fast growing, privately held company with headquarters in San Mateo, CA, and branch offices in Concord, MA, and Tokyo, Japan.

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Award-winning physician
faces insurance problems

Therese Smith
Daily Mail Health Reporter

Tuesday August 03, 2004

Dr. James Blume was the first West Virginian and the first osteopathic physician in the United States to win the National Country Doctor of the Year award, in 2002.

Gov. Bob Wise has named the rural Summers County physician a Distinguished West Virginian.

And, board certified in family medicine, Blume last year received the Off-Campus Teaching Award from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Despite his accolades, Blume can't get medical malpractice insurance from the new West Virginia Physicians' Mutual Company formed by legislators to help state doctors find coverage.

"We regret to inform you we are unable to provide you a quotation for coverage," said an administrator at Acordia of West Virginia in a June 30 letter to Blume.

Like dozens of other state doctors, Blume is stuck. His former insurer, NCRIC Inc., has announced it is pulling out of West Virginia.

"Your policy has been canceled effective 08/01/2004," said a July letter from underwriter Ross Hess to Blume.

In an earlier letter, a NCRIC Group vice president told Blume that costs of defending West Virginia policyholders have continued to rise significantly.

"In addition, despite efforts associated with tort reform, claims severity has increased dramatically as well," the NCRIC official said.

Last week, Charleston Area Medical Center CEO David Ramsey announced that four surgeons there also are losing their NCRIC insurance. It is not yet known whether the Physicians' Mutual will accept them.

Blume, meanwhile, has been looking at other possibilities. He could purchase coverage that would cost $35,000 the first year and would plateau at about $120,000 a year after four years, he said. In addition, he'd have to pay NCRIC $28,000 for tail coverage, for those possible lawsuits that could arise later.

In comparison, he paid NCRIC $13,859 last year for coverage, he said Monday. It was to plateau at $26,000 a year, at most.

Blume said the new physicians-owned company isn't doing what legislators said it would.

"Physicians in particular and citizens of the state in general have been sorely misled, as demonstrated by the recent turn of events in my career," he wrote in an open letter dated Monday.

The mutual's CEO, David Rader, said the company's underwriting criteria have been approved by the state Insurance Commission. Because of a capacity problem, it's not possible to accept all physicians who apply for coverage, he said.

For instance, about 1,400 physicians transferred from the state Board of Risk and Insurance Management to the mutual July 1. Another 100 physicians have applied and about half of those have been accepted.
"There have been a few declinations, 15 percent to 20 percent," Rader said.

The company has an arrangement with a nonstandard insurance carrier to consider insuring those turned down by the mutual. However, costs would be comparatively high.

"Our prices are almost non-affordable," Rader said.

Blume has been sued three times by patients without health insurance but has lost none of the lawsuits, he said.

Still, because his insurance company defended him, this "loss history" is available to future insurance companies.

"We lose no matter what," Blume said. "It is just too easy to sue in this state."

In June, Blume was able to recruit a partner to help him in his huge rural practice, Dr. Michael Montgomery, whose coverage with NCRIC is due to expire in late fall. They have invested in opening a second office in Hinton.

Blume, who also is director of the emergency department at Summers County Hospital in Hinton, said he has three options:


To continue to practice without insurance. If so, he will lose his hospital admitting privileges.

To quit his private practice and do full-time emergency medicine. But he said the community would suffer greatly.

To sell his practice to a hospital or not-for-profit entity that could provide the insurance.
In his July 1 address in kicking off the mutual, Wise said the state must "guarantee . . . that every West Virginia doctor has access to reasonably priced medical malpractice insurance."

Blume described the statement as a lofty goal.

"The Physicians' Mutual is not keeping its promises," he said.

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Medical campus nearly finished

MATT GRISWOLD

Herald Staff Writer


LAKEWOOD RANCH - With just five weeks remaining before 150 aspiring doctors report to their first classes, senior administrators at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine say they could move into their permanent offices as early as next week.

The $25 million project's construction crew is already is starting to dwindle. One week ago, some 250 workers were on site, said Ron Allen, president of Bradenton-based NDC Construction Co. Daily crew size is now more like 120, he said.

Allen said the three-story, 109,000-square-foot LECOM building is "96 percent" complete.

From the outside, LECOM's Lakewood Ranch campus looks somewhat like a greenhouse or botanical center. Huge green-tinted windows line the exterior, and the building's design is accented by a massive skylight atrium that runs the length of the building. The western border of the 18-acre site on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard is surrounded by environmentally protected wetlands – giving students, faculty and staff a scenic western view not likely to go away.

Steve Padgett, project manager for Bradenton-based Fawley Bryant Architects Inc., said the building has turned out precisely as envisioned.

"It really came together nicely," he said.

Intricate brick walkways and a rear courtyard, along with a waterfront rotunda and a heavily landscaped front and back, are all part of offering students a learning environment that is as much enjoyable as it is practical.

Everything is on schedule for Sept. 13, the first day of classes, said LECOM spokesman Pierre Bellicini. All of the faculty positions have been filled. The teaching staff will double in size next year, he said. Virtually all of the professional staff has been hired as well, he said.

There will be 150 students for the medical school's first academic year. School officials expect to add 150-student classes each of the next four years for a maximum enrollment of 600 at the start of the 2007-08 academic year.

This year's tuition is $25,000. Osteopathic physicians go through seven years of medical training in addition to undergraduate studies. Osteopaths incorporate a holistic approach to medicine into their treatment.

LECOM offers three "learning pathways," Bellicini said: a traditional lecture approach, problem-based learning and independent study.

The medical school's Lakewood Ranch campus will focus almost entirely on problem-based learning – a program that will divide students into eight-member teams that will work in small groups with a faculty member.

LECOM is Florida's sixth medical college and second osteopathic medical school. LECOM will pump an estimated $30 million a year into the local economy.

Dr. Robert George, associate dean of academic affairs, said the faculty and staff are well prepared for the incoming class.

"I think we're ready," George said.

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divinity09 said:

Hey, thanks so much for doing this. We get a lot out of it.

-Aaron

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Son follows in father's footsteps

By LYDIA GRIMES Feature Reporter
Children often follow in the footsteps of their parents, some more closely than others. Although Dr. Jimmy Adkisson is leaving the practice of medicine, he is leaving one of his children to carry on the tradition. Dr. Wayne Adkisson, the oldest child of Jimmy and Susie Adkisson, is a physician in his own right. The elder Adkisson has had a successful family practice in Brewton for more than 20 years while the younger physician has chosen to specialize.

Jimmy W. Adkisson was born in Brewton in 1944 and grew up in the area. He attended local county schools and graduated from W.S. Neal High School in 1962. His father worked in a store in downtown Brewton, and he spent quite a bit of time there. The first job he ever had was selling popcorn on the streets of Brewton. A man owned a popcorn machine, and he made a deal with the young Adkisson to sell popcorn and split the profits. He had another job that made even a bigger influence on his life. He began working at the old Mason Drug Store, which was located in the building that now houses Ole Willie's. He had the chore of sweeping floors for Mr. Redditt, who was the pharmacist at the time. He spent a lot of time in the drug store and began to believe that he wanted to be a pharmacist. Mr. Redditt made it possible for him to put that belief into action by helping him go on to college.

After graduation from high school he attended Samford University School of Pharmacy. He married Susie Normand in 1965.

"She helped me get through school," said Adkisson. "She was always there for me ready to help where she could."

The couple came back to Brewton in 1967 and he worked at Mason Drugs with Mr. Redditt until 1971 when he was able to buy the store along with one in East Brewton. He was now his own boss, but it just didn't seem like enough. In 1974, after much soul searching, he made the decision to go to medical school. That was not an easy decision to make as he was the father of three children by that time. Wayne was born in 1967, Lori in 1969 and Normand in 1973.

Adkisson put the drug stores up for sale and was able to sell them both to Ned Sibert. Sibert's father-in-law helped with the purchase, and the deal was made to pay a good portion up front with the balance to be paid by the month. This would allow the Adkisson family to get by until graduation.

Adkisson wanted to go to medical school, but not just any medical school. He wanted to attend a school where he could become a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. He learned of a college in Kansas City that seemed just right, but it wasn't going to be easy. The dean was not too sure that he could make it. Adkisson had been out of school for eight years and the dean thought that it would be too difficult. He finally decided to give Adkisson a chance by letting him study and pass three courses before he was allowed to enter the school.

"I knew that I could do it," said Adkisson. "I was determined to make it. We returned to Brewton in 1981 with $3,500, old household furniture, three children and a beat up old car."

He set up practice in the Medical Center in Dr. Philippi's old office. Dr. Philippi had retired and it made for a perfect place for the new doctor to practice. Over the next 23 years he built a large practice, and although he loves his work, he thinks it is time to retire and do some of the things he has never had the time for.

"I have a little heart problem, and I want to spend some time with my wife," he said with a smile. "I plan to do just what she wants to do, when she wants to do it.

"It has been wonderful interacting with families and their lives," he added. "I have been there at the birth of children, watched them grow and in some cases, been there for another generation. I will miss my patients. I believe there are three things that change a person's life for the better, people you meet, books you read and places you travel."

Those three things will continue to play a big part in his life. He has plans to do some traveling, some fishing and for the immediate future, gathering his large collection of pharmaceutical equipment to present to Jefferson Davis Community College for display at the Thomas E. McMillan Museum.

"I love American history and digging up artifacts," he said. "I love to dig up Indian artifacts and may do some more. But I really plan to do what Susie wants and whatever she tells me to do. She has been there for me all these years and whatever she wants, she deserves."

The second Dr. Adkisson was almost destined to follow in his father's footsteps. He was already in school when the family was living in Kansas City. He grew up playing with his father's "box of bones." This was half a skeleton that each student in college used to learn the names of the different bones of the body. Dr. Jimmy's bones were kept in a box and the children were allowed to play with them.

Dr. Wayne Adkisson grew up in a doctor's world. It was only natural that he would become a doctor, too. When he was a young man he was allowed to scrub and watch surgery by Dr. Bob Smith and Dr. Salem Saloom. This gave him the idea that he might become a surgeon, but that would change.

Wayne grew up in Brewton after the family moved back from Kansas City. He attended T.R. Miller High School and graduated in 1985. He went to Jefferson Davis Community College for the next two years. He, like his father, chose to go to Samford University School of Pharmacy, graduating in 1990. When questioned about the pharmacy schooling he has a very good answer as to why he became a pharmacist first.

"If, for some reason I didn't make it as a doctor, I would still have that to fall back on to make a living," he said. "I worked at it for a year in Birmingham after graduation to save the money needed for medical school."

That's not all he did before medical school. He believes that travel is the best education one can get, and he took advantage of that before settling down to the routine of school. While he was in high school he was lucky enough to get to travel to Europe with an art group from school led by Lee and Beth Bain. That was the beginning of a love of travel which he enjoys today.

After the time off he entered the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical School. He graduated in 1995 and earned his fellowship in 2001. As an intern and resident, he did rotations in all the medical departments. He felt like he wanted to be an OB/GYN but he decided that the lifestyle was too hard. He wanted something with hands-on procedure work. He knew a doctor in Pensacola and liked what he was doing in gastroenterology dealing with the digestive system. He decided to specialize in that field and was able to secure a position with Pensacola Gastroenterology Associates.

He is now returning to Brewton every week to help those who need the help of a specialist in his field. He comes up on Thursday and sees patients through Friday morning.

"As a youngster I couldn't wait to get out of the small town of Brewton," he laughed. "But now I am happy to be coming back every week to see patients here rather than them having to travel. I get to see my parents and practice at the same time."

He, like his father, loves to fish. However, his love takes him into the deep seas off Florida. He has just got his first boat and being a bachelor, he spends all the time he can on the water. He has a wine collection of over 300 bottles. It would appear that he is the typical eligible bachelor but not as carefree as that sounds. He is serious about what he does.

"In the future I want to carry on the tradition of my family in healthcare in our community," he said. "I am curious and want to continue to learn. I want to use the skills that I have acquired for the good of the community and be an example for youth to give back to the community."

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Doctor breathes life into body donor program

Private medical school in Henderson will teach less-invasive surgery techniques

By K.C. HOWARD
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Working in an incision 4 inches wide, Michael Crovetti hammered and sawed on the fine ivory bones of his 68-year-old unconscious patient.

Working with the ease of an ice sculptor, Crovetti performs seven to eight surgeries a day, reshaping hips, knees and shoulder joints at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson. His less-invasive technique of using smaller incisions is not new, he said. But some doctors are still using older tools and making larger incisions.

Some doctors are "a little nervous," he said, to use smaller incisions.

"So instead of practicing on patients, we're practicing on cadavers."

His patients are alive, but the ones his students -- surgeons taking continuing doctoral education courses -- will practice on at Touro University in January will have listless hips and knees. They will be donors. They will be dead.

Crovetti's Nevada Bio Research Foundation will begin a public relations campaign this fall to urge Nevadans to will their bodies to medical students, surgeons and researchers in Southern Nevada, which currently has no body donor program.

"There are about 12,000 deaths per year in Nevada, and we're hoping to get some of those," said Crovetti, director of the nonprofit foundation.

Crovetti will need about 250 cadavers for his program, which will teach visiting surgeons to perform the less-invasive surgeries at Touro, a private osteopathic medical school in Henderson.

He travels frequently to Arizona, Illinois and Florida, and he will soon head to Germany to teach doctors to replace damaged portions of knees and hips. His method of surgery causes less damage to muscle tissue, and as a result, he said, recovery times are quicker.

Touro's dean, Mitchell Forman, decided to build a facility for Crovetti to teach surgeons after Crovetti performed knee surgery on him in May.

"My knee problem turned out to be a good thing," said Forman, who had three bones replaced. "I was told I would be out of work for six to eight weeks. I returned in 10 days."

The school opened this month and its 15 cadavers came from Loma Linda University in California. It will need between 35 and 40 bodies for anatomy classes in the fall of 2005.

The University of Nevada Medical School in Reno also accepts body donations.

Crovetti said he hopes donors can take satisfaction in knowing they'll be contributing to medical breakthroughs. The bodies won't be used for only anatomy, knee and hip classes. He's hoping to bring other surgical experts into the facility to teach ground-breaking procedures dealing with the heart, brain and spine.

Asking Nevadans to make such donations can be difficult, especially after a scandal this spring at the University of California, Los Angeles. The program suspended its operations after its director was arrested on charges of selling bodies.

In March, Tulane University canceled a partnership with the National Anatomical Service, a national distributor, which sold seven bodies to the government. The U.S. Army used the cadavers to test protective footwear against land mines.

"It's really intimidating to people who are thinking about donating their body to science," said Crovetti of the UCLA incident. "We need to convince people that it's a good thing."

State law prohibits the sale of bodies for profit.

The foundation will offer medical conventions a place to prepare and study specimens in the future, said Terence Ma, director of gross anatomy at Touro.

Ronn Wade, director of the Maryland State Anatomy Board, said health care programs have often brought cadavers or human body parts into hotel convention rooms, which can be a biohazard to hotel guests.

"The concern is you've got ventilation systems, you've got wall to wall carpeting, you can't sterilize the room," Wade said.

Wade, who is also a director of the anatomical services division at the University of Maryland, said Crovetti's biggest challenge will be finding enough bodies quickly to meet student needs.

"Good luck," he said of Crovetti's goal to get 250 donations. "That's a lot."

The University of California, San Diego takes in that many annually; its program has been around since 1968.

"We have over 8,000 people signed up in our program," said Rick Wilson, the university's curator of anatomical preparation.

He praised Touro for starting a program in Southern Nevada and noted there's a large retirement community here that might feel it's something they want to do for the community.

"Just imagine that the physician, before he implants a prosthetic knee joint into your mother or father, has not done it on a cadaver first," Wilson said.

His program scatters donor ashes into the Pacific Ocean from Point Loma. Other schools scatter in forests or bury remains in graveyards located on medical school campuses. Like UCSD, some schools do not allow the families to reclaim the remains.

But Crovetti said families will be able to do so. The foundation will have an annual memorial service to honor the dead who contributed to helping the living. It is also looking into purchasing a burial plot for other cadavers, Ma said.

"It sounds terrible but funerals are very expensive these days and there is a population out there who wants to donate the body," Ma said. "Not only is it a great legacy to the future but they know all the costs of the preparation and cremation of the body are taken care of."

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Copley orthopedic surgeon witnesses trauma of Iraq war

Doctor performs more than 100 operations at Baghdad hospital

By Jim Carney

Beacon Journal staff writer


When most Americans hear reports of roadside bombs killing and maiming U.S. soldiers and others in Iraq, they can only imagine what kind of damage such a device would do to a human being.

Dr. Gregory Hill knows from experience what kind of injuries these bombs and other weapons are causing in Iraq.

The Copley Township orthopedic surgeon spent three months in a hospital operating room in Baghdad in late 2003 and early this year, embedded with the 28th Combat Support Hospital.

Ohio Army National Guard Lt. Col. Hill, 48, was mobilized for a 90-day rotation and said this week it is possible he could be called up again for another surgical rotation in the future, even though he has been given no indication that any new mobilization is coming.

Most patients Hill treated during his stint in Iraq, he said, were injured from roadside bombs.

``I was amazed at the degree of injury that these things can cause,'' Hill said.

Hill, a 1974 Akron Buchtel High School graduate, received his medical degree from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

He said he performed 100 to 150 surgeries while in Iraq.

Hill worked at Ibn Sina Hospital and was part of a Combat Army Support Hospital team. The hospital, according to a report in the December 2003 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication, had 350 beds and was formerly used to treat Saddam Hussein and members of his family as well as members of the Baath Party.

``I was busy from day one,'' he said.

Hill worked on injuries to U.S. and coalition forces as well as injuries to Iraqi detainees, Iraqi civilians and others.

He said that because soldiers were protected by body armor that protected their chest areas, the most frequent type of injury involved arms, legs, hands and fingers.

One of the lingering memories of his war experience, he said, was when he treated a 27-year-old woman who suffered serious injuries.

The soldier's husband, who was also serving in Iraq, was called to her bedside, but the wounded soldier died.

``That was a tough day,'' Hill said. He and his wife, Judi, have four grown children.

Patients with life-threatening injuries and injuries to limbs and eyes were operated on immediately, he said.

After seriously injured patients were stabilized, they were evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Since returning to Ohio, Hill has set up a nonprofit organization called Operation Iraqi Freedom Troop Care Fund to raise money to send care packages to soldiers. He said he is in the process of getting Internal Revenue Service 501c3 status.

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Medical students ink publishing deal for exam review
By Rimin Dutt
Published: Tuesday, June 1, 2004

NEW YORK - When students Rupen Modi and Naishadh Shah struggled to find helpful review books to prepare for their medicine-licensing exam, they decided to write their own.

Within a year they landed a book contract with Blackwell Publishing.

Modi and Shah's book, a review guide written to help students prepare for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam, will be published in the spring of 2005.

Osteopathy students must pass three levels of the licensing exam, an equivalent of the United States Medical Licensing Exam. Osteopathic medicine focuses on the whole person rather than on symptoms, diseases and medical conditions. Its approach to health care requires attention to the body-mind connection, touch and physical manipulation and to the circumstances in which a patient lives and works.

Modi and Shah are currently fourth year osteopathic medical students at the New York College Of Osteopathic Medicine. They are part of a combined program at their school, through which, they will receive a bachelor's of science degree and doctoral degree in osteopathic medicine. They will graduate in 2005.

During their own preparation for the licensing exam in 2002, Modi and Shah found few review books on the market.

"We would joke about the subject for about six to seven months and then in March of 2003, we wrote a proposal to see what publishers had to say about it," said Modi.

"After studying for our (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam) Level 1 exam, we also noticed a need for 'our type of book' in the market," added Shah. "Because we both enjoy teaching and take pride in our profession, we decided to contribute further by officially writing a book," said Shah.

They landed a book deal with Blackwell Publishing by the end of 2003.

"We did not consider what publisher we would get, we were only concerned with putting out a quality product that would help students prepare for major board exams and rotations," said Modi.

The young authors believe that writing a book for students is a difficult task, which is why very few students of medicine attempt to do so.

"It's a tough thing to sell to publishers," said Shah.

According to him their teaching experience helped them come up with a convincing proposal.

Both Shah and Modi were selected as undergraduate teaching fellows, a merit-based scholarship in their second year at the medical school. Under the fellowship program, they invest an extra year teaching their respective subjects to the first, second and third year students.

"One of the greatest benefits of the fellowships is the opportunity to teach... this has taught us how to express our thoughts and ideas in a clear and informative manner," added Shah. "Using our background knowledge, teaching experience, and enthusiasm to contribute to medical literature ... the process became a lot easier."

"Writing a book requires a little vision, some planning and a lot of time," said Modi. "We had a tremendous vision, good planning, but we are always short on time. Between the workload from (New York College of Medicine), working on our MBAs, and all the other extracurricular activities we are involved in, time management was important."

According to them, the format of their book is its best selling point. Topics are explained with a question and answer format for effective learning as opposed to prose and paragraphs, said Modi.

"There are many good resources out there for these same topics, but our book has many unique advantages including its format, size, and high-yield review," said Shah. "This book primarily revolves around making sure students are better prepared for their board exams and rotations."

Shah and Modi received tremendous support from their teachers at their school in preparing the book.

"Our professors and advisors offered their personal library for our use," said Modi.

Both Modi and Shah are also enrolled in the School of Management at the New York Institute of Technology, and are anticipating completion of their master's degrees in business administration this year.

Modi was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Shah was born in Gujurat, India, but grew up in Queens, N.Y, and East Brunswick, N.J.

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LECOM to use 'problem-based learning' to teach medical students

ROBERTA C. NELSON

Herald Staff Writer


EAST MANATEE - When Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine designed a program for its Lakewood Ranch branch campus, administrators chose a teaching style called problem-based learning.

Problem-based learning starts with a question, or mystery, said Wayne Krueger, the school's assistant dean for pre-clinical education.

"It's a very interesting, exciting alternative way students can learn," Krueger said. "It makes them active learners, self-directed, independent students."

Problem-based learning, used throughout all types of education, poses a problem to the students who must then ask questions and make inquiries to find the solution.

In a medical school setting, students are presented with a patient complaining of several symptoms, according to Dr. Anthony Ferretti, an osteopathic surgeon and the school's assistant dean of clinical education.

"The students are presented with everything they need to know," Ferretti said. "The case is all 'correct' in terms of anatomy, physiology, clinical presentation and lab tests."

The method is used in medical schools at Ohio State, Harvard University and many others, Ferretti said.

Lake Erie has used it for five years, and medical students who are trained by asking questions to solve problems score higher on national tests, Krueger said.

The main campus in Erie, Pa., also uses traditional lecture classes and independent study, but its East Manatee campus, scheduled to open Sept. 13, will use problem-based learning exclusively.

"It is expensive," Ferretti said. "There are eight students and one facilitator in each group, instead of a lecture with 150 students."

Tuition at Lake Erie is $25,000 annually. The first-year class of 150 students has been accepted. The school expects to eventually enroll 600 students in four classes. Its first graduation is expected in 2008.

Graduates can expect to be accepted for internships and residencies at any hospital, whether osteophathic or not, such as Tampa General, Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic or Walter Reed.

"There are no limitations," Ferretti said.

The first school of osteopathic medicine was founded in 1892 in Kirksville, Mo., by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, a surgeon who served in the Civil War.

Still was critical of medical practices he observed as Union Army doctor.

"He saw more people die of disease than in battle," Ferretti said. "He believed the body has the ability to heal itself."

Ferretti said traditional medicine has gradually accepted more of the philosophy long held by osteopathic physicians.

"The idea of treating the whole body has been gaining strength," Ferretti said.

Krueger pointed out that Florida's older population will especially benefit from the presence of a medical school, especially one that trains osteopathic physicians.

"They treat the person as a whole, including social and family circumstances, which often bring the patient to the doctor in the first place," Krueger said.

Dr. Karen Nichols, an osteopathic internist and dean of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, explains the difference between an M.D. and D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) by saying, "We are the M.D.-plus.

"We do everything the M.D.s do, and we also know how to do manipulation, if that is something the patient needs," Nichols said. "And we treat people, not just symptoms. Those two facts really wrap it up. We look at people with all the things that affect their lives, which then affect their health. We put the whole picture together."

Krueger said there is a tremendous need on Florida's west coast for osteopathic doctors.

"Part of our work is teaching older people how to take care of their bodies, so they don't need to see a physician so often," he said. "You won't see the effect (of the college here) for at least five years, but in six or seven years, there will be a big change."

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Love of sports prompts physician?s career choice


08/25/04
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Dr. David Wichman cuffs a competitor before allowing him into the ring at the Flamingo.
Aug. 25, 2004

By RYAN BEVITZ
News West
LAUGHLIN ? Far removed from the glamour many would expect of a Nevada Athletic Commission ringside physician sat Dr. David Wichman.
From behind a modest black curtain that partitioned off a small area of the Flamingo Ballroom was a small examination table and a chair. One by one, the boxers from the ?Feud at the Flamingo? card were examined by the Laughlin resident.

Most of Wichman?s actions on this day bordered on routine. Some small talk with the boxers here and there, a blood pressure test, a study of their ring history and a barrage of questions.
Wichman, the medical director of the University Medical Center Quickcare clinic in Laughlin, does all of this to help determine the demeanor of each fighter, how well they are prepared and anything else that he might use 24 hours later when the competition commences. ?The safety of the fighters is always a primary concern,? Wichman said.

Wichman, 48, has been with the NAC for about 4 1/2 years and estimates he has worked 30 cards.
?I?m kind of lucky because a lot of these guys have to come up through Golden Gloves and other events,? said Wichman, one of 13 ringside doctors employed by the NAC. ?But because of my sports medicine background, I didn?t have to pay those dues.?

Wichman?s sports medicine background started as an undergraduate. After injuries dashed his hopes of playing basketball, the Page native attended Arizona State University on an athletic trainer scholarship. He then went on to earn a Doctor of Osteopathy from the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. He graduated in 1987.

Since earning his certification with the commission, Wichman has helped out on everything from major cards at Las Vegas to minor cards all over Nevada. He?s even attended some pro wrestling events in the name of the NAC.
?You really don?t think about it,? Wichman said. ?But any kind of athletic event has to be sanctioned.?

Most of Wichman?s assignments, however, are routine. His main duty is to ensure the safety of the competitors before, during and after the match.
Not only does he do a pre-fight examination, but he also keeps a close eye on the fighters during the match and evaluates them after the bout.
During the competition, Wichman is looking for anything out of the norm. One reason why he studies the boxer?s demeanor during the pre-fight exam is so that when the match is under way, he can tell if their behavior is different after a few rounds.

If he determines the boxer is not healthy enough to continue, Wichman recommends to the referee that the fight should be stopped.
?They?re medical decisions, so they?re pretty clear cut,? Wichman said.
Often the boxer makes the decision.

?A lot of the time it?s easy,? Wichman said. ?You ask them if they want to keep going and they say that they?ve had enough.
?It saves them face. They can say the fight was stopped. They don?t have to say they quit.?

Wichman also relies on the referee and the other NAC officials assigned to each boxer?s corner to help him decide if the match should continue.
?You have to realize that you have the referees and cornermen there,? he said. ?So, you have guys with a lot of experience sitting at that curtain.
?Some of these guys go back to Ali. They have years and years of experience. You get a lot of support in the ring.?

After the match, Wichman again examines the fighters. This time he?s looking to make sure that there aren?t significant injuries. While Wichman?s love of sports brought him to the commission he sees his contribution as part-time.
?This is more of a love,? Wichman said. ?I love sports. It keeps me in sports medicine, but it?s not a gateway.?

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Inspiration comes in many forms for students training in medicine

By Connie Cartmell, [email protected]

When Jill Powell, an osteopathic doctor, was a student at Williamstown High School, and even as a young child, she wanted to be a doctor.

"As long as I can remember," Powell, 26, said of her aspirations. "It was a calling for me. I definitely feel God called me to be a doctor, to help people."
The world of medicine and medical practice is rapidly changing.

There may have been a time in more recent history when individuals were motivated to become physicians and surgeons because of the high income-earning power of the profession, the prestige of being a doctor in the community, or the perceived power of the title.

But not lately.

With today's world of skyrocketing malpractice insurance costs, exploding high technology, guaranteed long hours, growing demand for services, years of study and training required, only the most dedicated young doctors survive.

Powell, along with new colleagues Dr. Terry L. Carr, Dr. David W. Facello, and Dr. John Nash will spend the next year working with area physicians at Selby Family Care, 1338 Colegate Drive, in Selby General Hospital's postdoctoral physician intern program.

The program began in 1929 and has trained many Mid-Ohio Valley physicians, said Beth Burlingame, Selby community relations director.

Dr. David Butler completed his internship at Selby, has entered the two-year family practice residency program, and was named chief resident in July.

"Because of technology, the level of knowledge required in medicine today is unbelievable," Butler said.

Butler, 34, has an engineering degree and served in the U.S. Navy in electronics. He is a graduate of West Virginia University in biochemistry and West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

It's a natural that as a physician in family practice, Butler will combine engineering, medicine, and new technology to help fellow human beings.

Butler's passion is prosthetics.

"I've found an interest in patients with prosthetics," he said. "I once saw a television show on Discovery, I believe, that showed a man running toward the camera at full speed, on two legs, but both legs were prosthetic."

Opportunities in medicine today are broad and growing with technology and demands of an ever-aging population, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Physicians work in one or more of many specialties including anesthesiology, family and general medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and surgery.

A number of other medical specialists also include allergists, cardiologists, dermatologists, emergency physicians, gastroenterologists, pathologists and radiologists.

Doctors of both osteopathy and doctors of medicine, who seek board certification in a specialty, like family medicine, may spend up to seven years in residency training, depending on the specialty. All states and U.S. territories license physicians.

Years ago, hours were unlimited for new doctors in residency programs, Burlingame said. The law now limits the number of hours residents are required to work to a maximum of 80 hours per week. There are weeks that these five Selby residents do work 80 hours.

To be licensed, physicians must graduate from an accredited medical school, pass a licensing examination and complete the one to seven years of graduate medical education. Some states limit reciprocity, although most physicians licensed in one state may be licensed to practice in another without further examination.

Facello, from Beckley, W.Va., attended Mountain State University/Bluefield State and also graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. He plans to one day return to his native West Virginia as a family practice physician.

Opportunities in the practice of medicine are particularly good in rural and low-income areas, like portions of southeast Ohio and West Virginia, because some physicians find these areas unattractive due to lower income potential, isolation from medical colleagues, or other reasons, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"For me, it's a calling," Facello said. "I will return home in family practice."

Unlike their predecessors, these five newly trained physicians face radically different choices on where and how to practice. New doctors are much less likely today to enter solo practice and more likely to take salaried jobs in group medical practices, clinics, and health networks.

Carr, 41, the mother of two children, was an emergency room nurse 14 years before she made the decision to become a doctor. Today Carr, from Canaan Valley, W.Va., is in residency at Selby, on the road to becoming an emergency room physician - a specialty.

She received an associate's degree from Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, W.Va.; a bachelor's from West Virginia University, and doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

"Two physicians in the ER encouraged me. They were my mentors," Carr said. "My path here is a little more convoluted."

Also unlike her fellow residents, Carr does not participate in the Selby Family Care clinic.

"When I was a little child, I remember dragging all sorts of hurt animals home," she said with a smile. "We had many pigeons living in our kitchen, recovering."

Carr considers seeing both sides of the practice of medicine, as a nurse and physician, a great benefit.

"It's different being a doctor, not a nurse," she said. "Now when they say 'doctor,' I still turn around and look behind me.

"We all do that," Powell said in agreement.

"Seeing both sides helps me understand what nurses are thinking better," Carr said.

Nash, also of Beckley, W.Va., is the father of two children, with a new baby coming to the family. His goal is to be a family physician and he hopes to deliver his own child soon.

"What I like about family medicine is that you start with your patient as a child, and can follow him or her throughout life, as the child grows," he said.

Nash graduated from Mountain State University with a degree in respiratory therapy and also received his degree in osteopathic medicine from West Virginia. He is a member of the American Osteopathic Association and the American Medical Association.

Nash said he would love to go home to West Virginia to practice, but his family now has roots here in Marietta, where he'll likely stay.

"We're not in this for the money," Nash said. "We're in medicine to help people."


Career earnings

Physicians have among the highest earnings of any occupation. Median total compensation for physicians in 2002, by specialty:

Anesthesiology - $306,964.

Surgery, general - $255,438.

Obstetrics, gynecology - $233,061.

Psychiatry - $163,144.

Internal medicine - $155,530.

Pediatrics, adolescent medicine - $152,690.

Family practice (without obstetrics) - $150,267.

Source: Medical Group Management Association, Physician Compensation and Production Report, 2003.


Different titles, but they're

doctors just the same

The difference between a doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) and doctor of medicine (M.D.).

A D.O. focuses on osteopathy during their training; an M.D. does not. Osteopathy is an approach to medicine that uses common medical procedures, but it places a greater emphasis on understanding the relationship between the organs, muscles, nerves, tissues, bones and the tendons than traditional medical training does. D.O.s place special emphasis on preventive medicine and holistic care.

An M.D. completes all the basic medical training that a D.O. does, except for the training in osteopathy.

Source: MedFriendly.com


Outlook for employment

Employment of physicians and surgeons will grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2012 due to continued expansion of the health services industries.

The growing and aging population will drive overall growth in the demand for physician services, as consumers continue to demand high levels of care using the latest technologies, diagnostic tests and therapies.

Opportunities for people interested in becoming physicians and surgeons are expected to be favorable. Shortages in some specialties or geographic areas should attract new entrants, encouraging schools to expand programs and hospitals to expand available residency slots.

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New school buzzes with activity

MATT GRISWOLD

Herald Staff Writer


EAST MANATEE - With the threat of Hurricane Ivan diminishing for Manatee County, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine campus in Lakewood Ranch was alive with students and faculty Monday for the first day of classes.

School officials, who had considered delaying the start of classes by a week because of the storm, were taking a day-by-day approach to the westward-drifting hurricane.

Members of LECOM's inaugural 150-student class, laptop computers in hand, reported to their first lecture by 8 a.m. Monday, said Dr. Robert George, LECOM's associate dean of academic affairs.

"About 11? months ago, we were looking at a piece of property that was all mud," George said. "Now we have a beautiful school in a beautiful location affiliated with a brand-new hospital four miles down the road."

The new hospital, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, opened Sept. 1.

"It doesn't get any better," George said.

Officials at LECOM's main campus in Erie, Pa., share George's enthusiasm but see the new medical school as a work in progress.

"We still have a lot of work to do," said LECOM spokesman Pierre Bellicini. "We have to start recruiting right now for the second class."

The Lakewood Ranch campus is composed of a $25 million, 109,000-square-foot building just north of the YMCA along the west side of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

In three years, LECOM's campus in Lakewood Ranch will be at capacity with 600 students, but not without a lot of work done recruiting and securing the upcoming classes, Bellicini said.

This year's tuition is $25,000. Osteopathic physicians go through seven years of medical training in addition to undergraduate studies. Osteopaths incorporate a holistic approach to medicine into their treatment.

LECOM offers three "learning pathways," Bellicini said: a traditional lecture approach, problem-based learning and independent study.

The medical school's Lakewood Ranch campus will focus almost entirely on problem-based learning - a program that divides students into eight-member teams that will work in small groups with a faculty member.

LECOM is Florida's sixth medical college and second osteopathic medical school. LECOM will pump an estimated $30 million a year into the local economy.

Local LECOM spokeswoman Lisa Cambridge said Monday morning she saw students more excited about going to school than she had ever witnessed.

"These students worked very hard to be here," Cambridge said. "They feel honored to be here, and we feel honored to have them here. They're really a quality bunch of students."

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