A Physician’s Call for Help – Rewarded by the Best Payment of All

My wife and I were sitting down to an uncharacteristically late dinner for us Friday at a local eatery when my cell phone rang. Caller ID identified it as Dr David Rosenberg, a family physician practicing concierge medicine about one hour north of my home in Jupiter, Florida.  We had not spoken in months and after some pleasantries and catching up he said, “Steve I just saw a story on the TV News that there is a back to school community fair in Pearl City in your community tomorrow morning and the doctor they had counted on to perform the required school exams for new students had cancelled due to a personal crisis.

Dr. Rosenberg wanted to know if I would join him for a few hours at the Wayne Barton Learning and Community Center and perform the physicals. He told me he had phoned fifty physicians and no one had yet agreed to come. He was prepared to do them himself.  I gave my wife that “duty calls” look and she nodded back approvingly and I told him it would be my pleasure. I agreed to meet him at 10 a.m. at the center.

Wayne Barton is a former City of Boca Raton police officer who is now a community leader and activist. He created a nonprofit agency and, with generous philanthropic support, has built an educational and community center for students from poor homes. He provides year-round learning and tutoring for students and has an annual “Back to School Jam” where new students receive the required school physical plus receive backpacks filled with school supplies that their working parents have great difficulty affording.

Mr. Barton greeted me at the entrance as I walked in and thanked me for coming on short notice. The regular physician who cancelled due to a family crisis has been volunteering for years and is my personal friend, mentor and is my patient. Trying to fill in for him is a tall order and made the experience even more special for me. Dr. Rosenberg, who organized this last minute physician participation, was there as well and with him were two other concierge physicians and a wonderfully warm physician’s assistant.

For the next several hours, with the help of a large dedicated volunteer staff, we saw numerous lovely children with their families. A mother and her high school age daughter and son, who had escaped the ravages of the earthquake in Haiti, were among the first.

A young woman and her two children who had escaped Communism and Castro’s Cuba nine months ago came through my station.  I saw a young man with lead poisoning requiring treatment and follow-up and another lad who wanted permission to play football despite the jaundice in his eyes tipping me off to his history of sickle cell anemia that he had conveniently left off his form.  I was able to stay for three of the four hours and I received the best payment of all – beautiful smiles, blessings from several and a thank you from all.

The degree of appreciation coupled with the level of need leads me to believe it’s time to discuss with Mr. Barton a regular free clinic at the center.

Once last thought, I couldn’t help but notice that the physicians who responded to the call for help were all practicing in a concierge medicine model.