Inventive doctors find new solutions

Cape Girardeau long has boasted about its unofficial designation as the biggest center for medical care between St. Louis and Memphis. With its two hospitals, massive Doctors' Park, walk-in clinics, nursing homes and medical support businesses, the city welcomes those seeking treatment from throughout a large region.

Doctors here are recognized as wellsprings of knowledge when it comes to diagnosing and treating illness.

But the evidence is growing that local physicians are going far beyond the medical status quo. They're taking the time to develop ways to prevent illness and make treatment more efficient.

In the last month, two local doctors have announced breakthroughs for the area or perhaps even the nation.

First was Dr. Anthony Keele's webmedlink.com, a new Web site that allows patients and pharmacies to send prescription refill requests to doctors online. In the past, the method of communication with doctors for that purpose was primarily fax.

Any person who has waited a tense day or two for a doctor and pharmacy to communicate about a refill while prescribed medication dwindles would welcome anything that makes the process better. With the new technology, patients can not only contact their doctor by e-mail, but also track the process of their refill.

The site also allows e-mail consultations with doctors, which already is being done throughout the nation. But Keele stresses this will have extremely limited use. For instance, he won't prescribe antibiotics over the Internet.

And then Dr. Ed Masters and his son, Jordan, announced their invention of the Ticks or Mosquitos Trap, or ToM Trap. It emits carbon dioxide to attract the insects and then traps them on glue boards. Trap owners then change out the glue boards as needed.

Masters was a natural to work on such a project. He's an expert in tick-borne diseases. And he and other medical professionals no doubt watched the approach of the West Nile virus from eastern states with dread. Sure enough, there was one diagnosed case in Cape Girardeau over the summer, and the man suffered dreadfully with head and body pain before recovering. Elderly victims in other parts of the state weren't so lucky, and there's no telling how many local residents had mild cases of the disease and mistook it for migraine headaches or other maladies.

The ToM Trap is effective in about a quarter-acre area, and Masters says it will reduce ticks and mosquitos by about 75 percent in that area. The trap doesn't use electricity or propane to work, making it safer and more efficient. If it works, certainly it could be a valuable aid in the war on the West Nile virus, which scientists say is sure to reappear next summer.

Southeast Missouri can be proud to be home to such forward-thinking people in the health care profession.