<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Recollections of a Family Physician
Review: "House Calls" is a thinly veiled autobiography, of a boy, orphaned at fifteen, who grows up to become a pioneer in the field of family practice medicine. Born and raised in California, Thomas L. Stern, after a stint in the navy, finds himself in the navy's V-12 program assigned to medical school in Salem, Oregon. After med school with his bride, Gladys, he begins his practice in a small rural town where his house calls begin in earnest. The author's recounting of his cases and adventures will make you laugh and sometimes cry. It will make you long for that time before HMO's when doctors knew their patients, were part of the family and made house calls. In 1960, with Gladys, three kids, a several pets in tow and armed with years of experience in rural Oregon, Dr. Stern heads back to California where he sets up his medical practice in Manhattan Beach, becomes the technical advisor on the television show, Marcus Welby, M.D., and creates a residency program in family practice at Santa Monica Hospital. A page turning read, "House Calls" is an endearing, humorous and sometimes tragic look at life through the eyes of a family physician. This is a book people will be talking about long after they've read it.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant House Calls
Review: Dr. Thomas Stern's book "House Calls" is a stimulating story of rural medical practice in the 1950's and urban practice in the 1960's. It begins with excerpts from his personal story which are touching and inspiring. He went from being an orphan teenager on his own to a well respected physician. He began his practice in rural Oregon where he had many great adventures. The descriptions of his travails are funny and to the point. He cared for a wide variety of patients and acquired a great insight into the human condition. He describes the priorities and struggles of a young doctor with a growing family and a large practice. His personal, as well as, career aspirations are clearly described. There are many funny moments in the book and some of heartbreak. His joys and sorrows and the misfortunes and successes experienced by his patients are discussed in a very sensitive and caring way. The years in California provide insight into the visionary efforts of Dr. Stern, a pioneer in the specialty of Family Practice. He developed one of the early residency programs for family doctors in the Los Angeles area and worked for several years as the technical consultant to the hit TV series, Marcus Welby, M.D. Most readers will be lay people who will gain insight into the workings of a caring physician's heart and mind from the book. As a former rural and later urban family doctor myself, I can attest to the validity of the human drama which Dr. Stern so ably describes. Dr. Stern has textured this book with the art, as well as, the science of medicine as it was practiced in the 1950's and 1960's and provided us all with a good read. V. Franklin Colon, M.D.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant House Calls
Review: Dr. Thomas Stern's book "House Calls" is a stimulating story of rural medical practice in the 1950's and urban practice in the 1960's. It begins with excerpts from his personal story which are touching and inspiring. He went from being an orphan teenager on his own to a well respected physician. He began his practice in rural Oregon where he had many great adventures. The descriptions of his travails are funny and to the point. He cared for a wide variety of patients and acquired a great insight into the human condition. He describes the priorities and struggles of a young doctor with a growing family and a large practice. His personal, as well as, career aspirations are clearly described. There are many funny moments in the book and some of heartbreak. His joys and sorrows and the misfortunes and successes experienced by his patients are discussed in a very sensitive and caring way. The years in California provide insight into the visionary efforts of Dr. Stern, a pioneer in the specialty of Family Practice. He developed one of the early residency programs for family doctors in the Los Angeles area and worked for several years as the technical consultant to the hit TV series, Marcus Welby, M.D. Most readers will be lay people who will gain insight into the workings of a caring physician's heart and mind from the book. As a former rural and later urban family doctor myself, I can attest to the validity of the human drama which Dr. Stern so ably describes. Dr. Stern has textured this book with the art, as well as, the science of medicine as it was practiced in the 1950's and 1960's and provided us all with a good read. V. Franklin Colon, M.D.
Rating:
Summary: A warm account of personal challenges and healing
Review: The author practiced family medicine in rural Oregon and Southern California for over twenty years: his reflections and memoirs tell of delivering babies, struggling with heart attack victims and healing challenges, and becoming involved in his patients' lives. House Calls is a warm account of personal challenges and healing.
Rating:
Summary: House Calls - A Wonderful Reading Experience
Review: This is a great read for both the physician and the patient. Its stories are brief,interesting,humorous, and easily understood. A very pleasant experience to be enjoyed by all. Best wishes, Archie W. Bedell, M.D., Ph.D. Director Emeritus, Mercy Health Partners Family Practice Residency Program, Toledo, OH
Rating:
Summary: House Calls - A Wonderful Reading Experience
Review: This is a great read for both the physician and the patient. Its stories are brief,interesting,humorous, and easily understood. A very pleasant experience to be enjoyed by all. Best wishes, Archie W. Bedell, M.D., Ph.D. Director Emeritus, Mercy Health Partners Family Practice Residency Program, Toledo, OH
<< 1 >>
| 
