Small Town Doc

By Dr. Charles Vear

Charles “Bud” Vear (“Grandpa Doc” to his Grandchildren) was born in 1926, just before the Great Depression and World War II. He grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, a small Suburb of Chicago, spent two years in the Navy during the War before returning to earn an undergraduate degree from DePauw University. His dream of becoming a doctor took a while to blossom. He first earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Indiana University and worked for the Chicago Boys Club in the inner city of Chicago, trying to turn troublesome teenage gangs into productive groups. After a 15 month stint in the hospital with tuberculosis, he taught middle school science and math for seven years before finally pursuing his doctor dream after he and his wife had eight children! After finishing medical school, he became a small town Family Physician in Hillsdale, Michigan for the next 24 years, delivering over 2000 babies in a town of 8000.

He and his wife, Gloria, ended up with twelve children and 43 grandchildren and are co-authors of a book, “Love, Laughter and Dreams”, the sometimes frolicking story of raising twelve children and pursuing their dreams. His wife of 68 years passed away in 2019.

Bud has produced two other books. “Ask Grandpa” is a compilation of his reflections on life and “Vear Clan Tales” is a collection of stories from 53 different authors – all members of the Vear family. Bud, 94 years young, still lives in Hillsdale, Michigan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664146877

Dr. Charles Vear

Charles “Bud” Vear (“Grandpa Doc” to his Grandchildren) was born in 1926, just before the Great Depression and World War II. He grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, a small Suburb of Chicago, spent two years in the Navy during the War before returning to earn an undergraduate degree from DePauw University. His dream of becoming a doctor took a while to blossom. He first earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Indiana University and worked for the Chicago Boys Club in the inner city of Chicago, trying to turn troublesome teenage gangs into productive groups. After a 15 month stint in the hospital with tuberculosis, he taught middle school science and math for seven years before finally pursuing his doctor dream after he and his wife had eight children! After finishing medical school, he became a small town Family Physician in Hillsdale, Michigan for the next 24 years, delivering over 2000 babies in a town of 8000. He and his wife, Gloria, ended up with twelve children and 43 grandchildren and are co-authors of a book, “Love, Laughter and Dreams”, the sometimes frolicking story of raising twelve children and pursuing their dreams. His wife of 68 years passed away in 2019. Bud has produced two other books. “Ask Grandpa” is a compilation of his reflections on life and “Vear Clan Tales” is a collection of stories from 53 different authors – all members of the Vear family. Bud, 94 years young, still lives in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Bud Vear.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/28/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

821838

CONTENTS

Preface

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Where to Settle

Starting a Practice

A Home and a Bicycle

Entrepreneurship & Finances

Surgery – Not My Choice

Obstetrics

Independent Patients and Alternative Medicine

Sports Medicine

Medication

Employees

Community Involvement

The Enemy in Medicine is Death

Training and Experience

Mistakes and Liability

Informing the Patient

Challenging Patients

Healthy Habits

Terminating Life

Faith in a Small Town

Terminal Conditions

Progress (?) In Medical Care

Time for Oneself

Retirement

PREFACE

Practicing medicine in a small town is different. The Family Physician becomes a part of a family’s health care needs from birth until death. He brings his patients into the world and assists them when they leave. I have been retired for nearly 30 years and still have former patients stop to tell me I delivered them or their children. I may not recognize them, but it is humbling and rewarding to be remembered as having been a part of their lives.

In the following pages I will share with you some of my memories as a Small Town Doc. These are true stories (as well as I can remember). Some of them may surprise you, some may bring a smile and some may bring a tear, but I hope you will enjoy these reflections on my journey, as much as I have enjoyed sharing and remembering it.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to the 2000+ babies I delivered during my 24 years as a small town family doc. I always considered it a privilege to be invited to participate in this special event in the families I cared for, and each new life was a special reminder of God’s love.

I also dedicate this book to my wife, Gloria, who made my dream of being a small town doc possible. Without her support, encouragement and optimism, my dream would never have been achieved. She was a remarkable partner in this adventure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I offer special thanks to my patients, who furnished the memories and stories for this book. While I have avoided using patient names, I’m sure some of my patients will recognize their stories, if they happen to read this book.

Thanks go again to my granddaughter, Grace Cool, for using her artistic talent to design the cover for this book.

I am also very grateful to my nurse, Mary Leising, who meticulously tabulated the details of my deliveries, so I could use the information for the chapter on Obstetrics.

Finally, I am grateful for the help and guidance I have received from Xlibris. This is the fourth book of mine they have published, and, as before, their concern and assistance in helping me produce a quality product has been much appreciated.

WHERE TO SETTLE

Where do you want to live? This was a question my wife was asking as I was completing my medical internship at St. Luke’s Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan. She suggested it would be nice if we found a small town in which to raise our large brood of children - we had ten at the time. We had lived for several years in Chicago, when I was doing social work, but we grew up in Wheaton, a small suburb of Chicago, and we much preferred that kind of environment in which to settle.

I always liked Michigan – probably because I had vacationed in the Upper Peninsula as a teenager. When I finished medical school at Missouri University, I looked only in Michigan for internships and ended up in Saginaw because the hospital there offered us the use of a house that was large enough for our big family. Many of my medical school classmates were pursuing specialties and planning to join medical groups in cities, but I simply wanted to be a small town Family Doc, taking care of the medical needs of families from birth to death. My wife was supportive of whatever I chose to do, but she agreed that a small town would be nice.

Small towns were eager – sometime desperate – to lure new doctors to their communities, so it was easy to schedule visits to many small towns. We visited a number of small towns in southern Michigan, but our visit to Hillsdale was unique. First of all, we were introduced to Dr. Clark Smith (now deceased), a wonderful physician who showed us around and, later, became my mentor. We told him we wanted a town that had a Catholic school, and also a swimming pool. Not sure they were of equal importance, but my wife and I had met at a swimming pool, and our children all liked the water.

Clark responded, Hillsdale has a Catholic school but not a Catholic swimming pool! (We chuckled at that comment.) He also told us that, if we were Republicans (we were), we would fit in nicely, but he assured us that there were also a few nice Democrats in Hillsdale. The town had a small hospital, with a staff of 13 doctors, most of whom were Family Docs. We moved to Hillsdale - and never left. While there was a small upward blip in the population of Hillsdale when we arrived, about 8000 were living in Hillsdale when we moved there, and now, 50+ years later, the population is still about the same. It is a beautiful small rural community, with many family farms and multiple small industries, many of which are suppliers for the auto industry. Hillsdale is the County seat, and a stately courthouse in the middle of town announces this fact

In addition to the beauty and hominess of this small Michigan town, located near the border of Ohio and Indiana, another attraction for us was that Hillsdale has a college. None of the other small towns we visited contained colleges, and we felt that this would be a plus. This turned out to be truer than we could ever have imagined.

In addition to Hillsdale College’s nationwide reputation for promoting conservative values and maintaining independence from government control (They accept no financial support from the government.), the college is well respected for its high