PROGRESSS

Yes, Albert Einstein College of Medicine opened many doors.  I considered a psychiatry program in Stoney Brook but remembering the kids whose fathers were psychiatrists, decided to give my kids a break and go into family med. 

Many of my friends from medical school were from Chicago and every one of them wanted to go back to Chicago.  When stoned, they all talked about the great Chicago dog (Flukeys), Little Italy, Greek Town, Wrigley Field and the Cubs and, of course, da Bears.

Renee had just moved back from Chicago stating that the weather was not fit for human habitation, but I wanted to see Chicago, so she came along.  I interviewed at Lutheran General Hospital.  It was a new program with a great deal of promise and a seemingly dynamic director (boy, was I wrong).  As previously stated, my residency sucked; but, with the help of mentors who saw my potential, I successfully finished the program.

The experience had changed me.  I had two options: one being to take on an ob/gyne residency and deliver babies and the other was to become an ER doc.  I felt sorry for the obstetricians.  Bad babies were born to good people.  It was a fact of nature.  When a bad outcome occurs in medicine, docs often gather in what’s called an M&M (Morbidity and Mortality) conference to do a sort of autopsy on the case, learning what went right, what went wrong and how to change the outcome in future cases.  Obstetricians were like hungry sharks, attacking each other and drawing blood.  I had witnessed enough blood letting to know that I wanted no part of it so off to the ER I went.

I found my next mentor in the ER at Northwest Community Hospital; and like so many of my mentors, he too is no longer with us.  From an article written about him on his death:

“Dr. Stanley M. Zydlo, the longtime head of emergency medical services at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, was the driving force behind creating the first multicommunity system of paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the country.”

“Stan was a man way ahead of his time. He saw the potential to save lives, and he made it a reality,” said former Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins. “He has saved so many lives with his idea and his tenacity to carry out that idea.”

In a way, he saved mine.  While working in the ER, I noted that 90% of the patients I saw were not emergencies.  They really should have been seen in their family doc’s office.  Stan, realizing the same thing, started opening “treatment centers,” which today would fall under the category of outpatient, urgent care centers.  He put me in his flagship center and it was there that I found my way back to family medicine.

I devised a ten-item questionnaire designed to explore why the patients came to the ER/TC instead to their doctor’s office.  I asked every patient one of the ten questions and recorded their answers.  I figured I would use the data to improve the patient care experience at Stan’s facilities.

My first child, Erin, was born. My world could not have been more perfect. My future with Stan looked great so Renee and I decided to stay in Illinois.  On our first family vacation, a road trip to a Wisconsin resort, we drove through Lake Zurich and a new shopping center caught my eye.  A professor at The U had told the class that, “if you ever want to guarantee your success, open your business next to a McDonald’s.”  Here was a new McDonald’s looking at a new Burger King and no medical center in sight.

Milo stepped up to the plate and hit a homer.  I signed the lease and took it to Stan’s ER corporation.  My presentation was awesome.  I offered them the site for their next treatment center in exchange for them making me a partner and unit director.  They agreed!

A few days later, Stan met with me in private.  He told me that the board was going to make me unit director but NOT offer me a partnership.  As my mentor and friend, he told me to keep the lease and open my own office.  And that’s how Lake Zurich Family Treatment Center was birthed.  My office was the first hybrid practice, blending family medicine and urgent care, in northern Illinois and maybe, the country.

The only problem was Renee and I were broke and banks kept turning us down.  I had a lease and a structure under construction but the word on the street was that my new concept was faulty, and I was going to bankrupt.  Yep, you guessed it!  Time for God to send me a mentor.  (By the way, they are still alive.)

The Village Bank of Lake Zurich turned me down like all the rest.  Unlike all the rest, the President and Vice President, Ron and Jack, called and invited me to a board meeting.  They actually sprung me on the board without warning.  As they put it, “let the board turn you down to your face.”  Milo showed up and I got the loan.  LZFTC was going to be a reality.  I will be forever grateful for the faith and friendship offered to me that day.

Lake Zurich became my home and I miss it!  So, if you are my former patients and you see Ron Spiekout or Jack Reck on the street or in a restaurant, make sure you thank them.

One more story for today.  The Jungs were to be my landlords. I went to their office in Chicago to negotiate the lease.  Boy, was I a fish out of water.  John, the father, sat behind his desk smoking a cigar.  John was the “good cop” offering all kinds of concessions.  Jim, the son and “bad cop”, kept telling his dad why he couldn’t give me those concessions.  The room filled with smoke as he puffed away at his cigar and the two of them deprived me of oxygen, negotiated back and forth between themselves and ultimately handed me the lease.  They turned out to be the best landlords anyone could have.

When John died, I told Renee, “We are screwed.  Jim is going to be a hard ass!”  As it turned, like father like son, Jim assumed John’s persona and took good care of us for the 34 years we lived there.  Eventually, Jim’s daughter joined him and assumed the bad cop role.  Parroting his dad, Jim would say, “We gotta take care of the doc,” and he did!

Here’s your joke for the day:

A woman walks into a pet store and is perusing through the various animals when she comes across one of the most beautiful parrots she has ever seen. She’s taken aback by the tropical beauty of this bird; and when she looks on the price tag on the cage, it says $50. The woman turns to the man at the front counter and asks, “Why is a bird this beautiful being sold for this little?” The man looks up and says, “Oh, that bird was originally kept in a house of prostitution; and, boy, does he have a mouth”. The woman takes the words to heart but buys the bird anyway. She buys it and takes it home with her. She puts the bird in the living room. Suddenly the bird squawks “NEW HOUSE NEW MADAME!” The woman is put off by this but she figures that in a few days the bird will get over it. Her daughters come home from school and the bird speaks again “NEW HOUSE, NEW MADAME, NEW GIRLS!” Again, the woman is put off but she assures her kids that the bird will grow out of its old habits. The woman’s husband gets back in from a day at work. The parrot takes one look at him and squawks; “HI, GARY!!”