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Lord,
be with us today as we dedicate this site to you. May this place be a
haven for those who are weary, sick and tired. May your holy spirit fill
us so we may show the love of Christ to all who enter in. Keep safe all
the workers who will toil to make our dream here become reality. We ask
this in Christ our Lord. Amen
So why are we making our practice more private
by purchasing and constructing our own building at a time when around the
country private practices are being bought left and right by
giant health corporations? When doctors are leaving the
close intimacy of private practice and becoming corporate
employees doing only shift work?
Well……….Medicine is almost indistinguishable from
what it was 12 years ago when I started this practice. The business side
of the practice now consumes a great deal of resources. Medicare
and managed care play Monday night quarterback with us, denying claims
even though the deniers are comfy and warm in their bureaucratic desks
miles away. Prescriptions are altered by the paying agency to fit the
bargain of the month.
I hate to admit it, but even our 3 doctor practice is
nothing more than a tiny ant for a giant insurer to step on. The financing
of health care may change entirely. Maybe just around the corner is
nationalized health with national restrictions of how and where a person
gets treated. A patient may soon be unable to get care that falls out of
an established protocol.
Contrast that with the intimacy of the doctor-patient
relationship. Contrast that with the very uniqueness God endowed on each
individual.
In which of these do you believe? We all are okay with
taking a number? Or we need a personal relationship with a doctor who can
know us and treat us as an individual?
Sure everyone says they believe in the latter, but when
it comes down to sacrificing personal security and carrying around an
annoying beeper… many doctors are selling out. Selling out not just
their lifestyle, but your individuality as well.
I believe that doctor-patient intimacy stands a chance
of surviving only if we physicians fight to preserve the sanctity of our
relationships with our patients.
We here at Caring Family are moving from
the relative freedom of renters to that of mortgage holders, planting
ourselves firmly into the soil of Crystal Lake. We sing: "I owe I
owe, it’s off to work I go." Am I scared? Sure I am. But I believe
God will be with us if we are truly serving His people with love and
compassion. Hear the words of one of God’s prophets:
Jeremiah 17:7-8 But I will
bless the person who puts his trust in me. He is like a tree growing
near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid
when hot weather comes, because it’s leaves stay green; it has no
worries when there is no rain; it keeps bearing fruit.
Listen also to St. Paul’s 1st letter to the:
I Corinthians 12:4-7,11 There
are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives
them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is
served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same
God gives ability to all for their particular service.
Everyone present here is playing a part in bringing this
dream to fulfillment. I wouldn’t be here without Centegra’s Gail
Bumgarner when NIMC helped me start this practice in 1988, I wouldn’t be
here period without my mother and late father, Harris bank
is trusting in us enough to set us up with the financing now on this
property and the construction, Mark Elmore has used the gift God gave him
in both artistic talent as well as managerial talent to bring into being
our roughly shaped ideas, Bob Tonyan is going to use a masterful gift of
peacemaking to coordinate all of the progress on this building and Father
Geoff has been a big peacemaker and spiritual guide in his 13 years here
in Crystal Lake.
Showing love, honesty, cooperation and respect is a
stated commitment of all of the staff members of Caring Family.
Though Rick Barta gets the glory of managing the practice, truly every staff
member in this practice shows a great capacity to bring Christ’s love
and healing to others. I believe this is what makes Caring Family different.
I believe that the Holy Spirit works through this
dedicated staff. To see a staff that can return an insult with a nicety,
to return rudeness with patience, to return vulgarity with peace, that is
a blessing that makes me sing your praises!
Most of the time!!! And I truly hope that we can
continue to model Christ’s love so that maybe some
patients and some fellow workers, and some vendors
passing through are enticed as to find or rejuvenate their faith.
When Jesus healed people’s physical ailments he had a
profound effect on their faith. I can speak for all of us physicians here
that we know we are only instruments in the hands of the one and only
healer, our one God and Creator.
Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus
went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness
and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he
was moved with compassion on them, because they were worried and
helpless, like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his
disciples, "The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the laborers
[are] few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will
send forth laborers into his harvest."
What a magnificent role to play in God’s plan! May we
courageously untangle ourselves from any allegiance that may usurp our
ability to be followers of God’s healing spirit.
May this building grow laborers not just for Caring
Family, but for the harvest of God’s kingdom.
COMMENTS:
Racquel N.
Ramirez, M.D., George N. Gancayco, M.D., Mark Elmore– architect, Frank
Catini- Harris Bank, Gail Bumgarner– CENTEGRA
Dedication Prayer–Fr.
Geoffrey Wirth from St. Thomas church
Let’s Break Open that ground!!!!! |
