ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW PHYSICIANS

At least a dozen doctors have moved into the area in the last year and Cape Girardeau County always is looking for more physicians to take up residence, calling the city of roses home and servicing an area with 500,000 potential patients.

With 500,000 potential patients, a private practice for a physician might be a lucrative business, but recruiting new doctors to move into the area has proved to be a business all its own.

Dan Berry, who takes care of physician recruitment for St. Francis Medical Center, said the area always is looking for new doctors to come to the area. He said a recruitment videotape and other information are sent to doctors who are seriously considering coming to Cape Girardeau.

"We can also target a search to a certain specialty," Berry said.

He said the county medical association typically tracks doctors and knows when they are leaving the area because of retirement or other reasons. He said if the association knows a doctor will retire in two or three years, he said work begins to recruit another physician as a replacement.

"That process can take up to a year," Berry said. "And we usually don't try to recruit just one doctor, we go for two or three."

Berry said the costs and demands associated with a private practice don't encourage doctors moving into the area to begin a solo career. He said many doctors want to enter into a physician-group business, preferably one already well-established in the area.

Dr. Tim Albers of the Internal Medicine Group, 10 Doctors Park, did that a few weeks ago.

Albers, his wife and 19-month-old twins moved back to the Midwest after spending five years in Phoenix. Albers began seeing patients Feb. 6 in a practice with 23 other doctors.

"I grew up in Poplar Bluff," he said, "and I have wanted to come back here for some time. So I was grateful to have the opportunity to do that."

Albers said his wife has family in Iowa so she didn't mind moving to Cape Girardeau. He said that he had been working on moving into a group practice in Cape Girardeau for almost a year.

"We've missed the sense of community," he said, "and we've gotten more invitations to church. That's what I like about this part of the country. People here are solid. They're neighborly and outreaching. And they seem more honest and hard working here. They just weren't like that in Phoenix."

Albers said besides the sense of community and the neighborly attitude, he and his wife, Susan, wanted a place to safely raise their children.

"I like seeing bean and pork belly futures make the news," he said, "as opposed to murder victims."

Another Cape Girardeau physician, Dr. Ken Phillips, also entered into an established practice by joining the Family Practice Specialty Center, 69 Doctors Park.

"I was raised in McClure and wanted to come back," he said. "I like the area."

Phillips left the area for college and medical training. After his residency training in Peoria, Ill., he made arrangements to return to the area. He began seeing patients Aug. 15 in Cape.

"I really like the patients in this area," he said. "I also have an interest in obstetrics and gynocology. I'd like to focus and emphasize that aspect of my practice."

Albers, Berry and Phillips agree that as long as Cape Girardeau County maintains the economic climate it has enjoyed for some time, the area shouldn't have any trouble recruiting physicians. And once a doctor hangs his shingle out for business, he isn't expected to leave anytime soon.

"I plan on staying here forever," Albers said, "At least until they plant me, which I hope is a long, long time from now."