A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FAMILY DOCTOR

Talk about hectic.

Four examination rooms, a constantly-ringing phone placed strategically between them, medical supply distributors and sales people standing patiently in the hallway, and a waiting room full of people. Through it all moves Dr. Thomas Sparkman, sometimes at a trot, but never with a trace of confusion or consternation.

This is a day in the life of a family physician.

Sparkman has been a family practitioner in Cape Girardeau since 1975. The number of family doctors is much lower than specialists, and his year's of experience earn his recognition has one of the veterans of the region.

Each day, he deals with ailments, injuries and diseases. His clients are the young, old and everything in between.

He considers himself a specialist who is trained in the problems of the family.

"The basis of all training in family medicine is having a continuity of care," Sparkman said. Family physicians must know how a disease in an infant is going to impact the older generation in the household, or how an older generation disease can effect the younger generation.

The workings within the Girardeau Park Family Medicine center, the name of Sparkman's practice, are virtually devoid of routine. Sparkman moves from one patient to another, focusing completely on their case within the seclusion of the examination room.

Once a patient's ailments have been examined and a procedure set, Sparkman moves on. He never seems to rush through an examination and his patients feel like they can ask him questions.

He jokes with them, asks them about their businesses, tries to persuade a few of them to lose a little weight and shares some of his own personal anecdotes with them. All the while, he's testing, probing, writing and preparing a treatment.

His staff schedules appointments, which fills the hours of his days, but it is the unexpected calls and immediate care cases that fill the minutes.

"It makes things interesting," Lura Scowden, a licensed practical nurse, said.

Scowden and Teresa Prater, a medical assistant, prepare each patient and assess their complaints to bring Sparkman up to date on their condition in the shortest amount of time.

By the time Sparkman arrives, he is told of the patient's symptoms, conducts his own specific examination to assure himself of a diagnosis, then moves into treatment as quickly as possible -- all usually within a five or 10-minute period.

"We've been together for so long it's like we know each other's thoughts," said Scowden, who has worked for Sparkman for eight years.

Time management is vital to the smooth running of Sparkman's professional life. He begins work, usually at either St. Francis Medical Center or Southeast Missouri Hospital, at 6 a.m. every weekday.

Aside from his medical duties, he volunteers evening hours to five civic, church or medical groups.

And don't forget his wife and three children. His wife of 17 years, Carol, makes her own time to see her husband -- she works with him.

"I'm not one to sit at home all the time," she said. "We work together as a team and it works for us. It gives me a chance to see him during the day."

Dr. Sparkman said the art of family medicine is more than just diagnosing diseases.

"A family practitioner is really an educator," he said. "We're trying to educate the people on what a healthy lifestyle is all about."

It might be talking to teenagers about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Or it might be cautiously advising an older person who cannot take care of themselves at home to consider outside help.

This kind of personal attention sometimes acts against the doctor's best intentions.

"You can lose friends," Sparkman said. "You can lose friends by Mama saying, `Don't you council my kid on drugs because my kid's not going to be a druggie.' Or, when `Miss Smith' is saying, `I'm not going to see Dr. Sparkman anymore if he keeps harping on me about going to a nursing home.'

But Sparkman feels that the risk a doctor has to take. It's what the family means in family counseling.