KINDER ENJOYS HALF-CENTURY OF MEDICINE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- From whooping cough to polio, Dr. James A. Kinder has seen it all.

The Cape Girardeau resident has been a doctor for 50 years, and has been a practicing pediatrician here for the last 43 years.

Kinder is one of a number of Missouri doctors who will be honored at the Missouri State Medical Association meeting next Saturday in Kansas City. The association is recognizing Missouri doctors who have been in the profession for half a century.

"It's a little overwhelming," the soft-spoken Kinder said of the honor.

At 73 years of age, the affable Kinder shows no signs of retiring. He has an office in the Pediatric Associates building, 1435 Mount Auburn Road, but his practice is separate from that of Pediatric Associates.

"I'm not looking forward to retirement. I enjoy practicing too much," said Kinder.

Kinder, who regularly sports a bow tie, has a soft spot for children. "I've always enjoyed working with kids," he said.

He readily laughs about the actions of some young patients who visit the doctor's office.

He recalled a recent incident. "I walked out in the hall to check on my aquarium, and a little 2-year-old kid looked up and said, `Hi, grandpa.'"

With his quiet, comforting manner, it's easy to see why youngsters think of him as "grandpa." In fact, Kinder does have four grandchildren.

"I enjoy gardening and grandkids," he said.

From the standpoint of his surname, Kinder is well suited to be a pediatrician. Kinder means children in German.

Kinder said that children, from six months to three years of age, are often scared of going to the doctor.

His advice: "Get the examinations over with as quick as possible and put the kid back in Mommy's arms."

Kinder said he became a doctor for two reasons. "I enjoyed working with people and helping people. I've always been interested in scientific study."

The son of a Cape Girardeau pharmacist, Kinder was graduated from Cape Central High School at the age of 15.

"I think I got three double promotions," he said, explaining that he skipped several grades. In those days, bright students were often moved up in grade level.

He attended Southeast Missouri State University for two years and then finished his undergraduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently attended medical school at Washington University, graduating in June 1941 at the age of 23.

Because of his youth, Kinder said he was always being mistaken for a freshman at Washington University, even when he was close to graduating.

He joined the Army ROTC while in school and was called up to serve in the Army Air Force in 1942, just after completing a one-year internship at a St. Louis hospital.

In August 1943, he was assigned to the Chinese Air Force as a flight surgeon. "Actually, I was one of the first contingent sent to China," he recalled. "I got to China in October 1943."

Communications between the Chinese and American troops were difficult.

Kinder explained how American and Chinese troops communicated at one air base.

"We had a pilot who grew up in North Africa and he spoke North African French. Our base commander was Chinese, from French Indochina. So we had interpretation between English and Chinese."

As a flight surgeon, Kinder said he flew on missions with Chinese and American crew members.

At one base, there was a cholera epidemic among Chinese workers. But the disease did not spread to the troops.

He returned home in the fall of 1945 and started pediatric training in 1946 in St. Louis.

Following two years of training, Kinder opened his practice in Cape Girardeau in 1948 in a building at 826 Themis that he shared with other doctors.

In 1949, '50 and '51, a polio epidemic hit Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. "That was terrible," he recalled. At that time, there was no polio vaccine.

In 1955, Kinder moved his office to the Medical Arts Building at 937 Broadway.

The building was originally a grade school. "I went to first and second grades there," he said.

Kinder and several other doctors purchased the building in 1954 and converted it to a medical building.

Kinder maintained his office there from 1955 until 1988, when he moved his practice to the Pediatric Associates building.

Over his half-century in medicine, a lot has changed.

"I think the most striking change is the care given newborns."

Kinder said doctors used to have a "hands off" approach when it came to dealing with newborns. Now, sick newborns undergo operations and benefit from a wide array of medical technology.

Laboratories can now do tests with a few drops of blood where once it took larger quantities, Kinder said.

Nursing care has improved as well. "The doctors used to have to give all the intravenous fluids." Now nurses do that work.

"I think we can catch things earlier than we used to," noted Kinder.

In earlier times, Kinder made a lot of house calls. "House calls were part of the business of getting home."

Kinder said he would make his rounds at the hospitals and then make some house calls before going home.

But doctors, including Kinder, no longer make house calls. "You can do so much more in the office now," said Kinder.