PHYSICIANS WELCOMED TO REGION

Local physicians say it's difficult to recruit new doctors to Southeast Missouri, but they had good luck doing so this year.

Thirteen doctors representing almost as many specialties attended a welcoming reception Sunday night at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau, where their peers gathered to meet them.

The annual event is sponsored by St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital and the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society. All three groups have much to gain when good doctors settle in the area, said Dr. Walt Schroeder, president of the society.

"There was a need for every one of these physicians in this community," he said. "They tend to go someplace and stay there, and they will add to the quality of medical care here."

All of them were recruited by existing medical practices. Schroeder said 13 was a high number of physicians to come to the Cape Girardeau County area in one year.

Gerald L. Nicholson is administrator of Orthopaedic Associates of Southeast Missouri, one of the largest medical groups in Cape Girardeau. He and his staff managed to attract three new physicians recently.

Nicholson said recruiting physicians is easy if recruiters find the right ones.

"Cape is in a rural area, and many physicians and their spouses are more interested in urban areas," he said. "The ones who come here may be from the area or may have family in the region. They usually like hunting and fishing more than opera."

It is particularly difficult to attract general practitioners, he said. They know they will work 60-hour weeks in a town like Cape Girardeau. In the city, they can work 40-hour weeks for HMOs and make the same amount of money.

Dr. Christine Esswein Wester, a radiologist, moved here because of relatives who live in the region. Her sister is Dr. Marybeth Kapp, a pediatric ophthalmologist practicing in Doctors' Park. Other relatives live in St. Louis and Springfield.

Wester began working in her first private practice, Cape Radiology Group, today.

"This is a nice place to raise a family," she said. "Cape Girardeau has a nice referral base from all over. Everyone is really friendly, and it already feels like home."

Dr. Neal Honickman, an ophthalmologist, began practicing with Dr. Dave Westrich two months ago. He and his wife, Tammy, have a child on the way. They said they like the idea of raising children in Cape Girardeau.

Honickman also is working in his first private practice.

"From a practice standpoint, I couldn't have found a better place to work," he said. "We like the people here, and this is a very beautiful area."

Other physicians welcomed Sunday included: Saleh Aldasouqi, endocrinologist; Stephen M. Brennan, anesthesiologist; B. Charles Burns, rehabilitation/physical medicine; Wai E. Chiu, anesthesiologist; Billy A.F. Hammond, cardiologist; J. Alfred Moretz, orthopedics; William R.M. Ogle, cardiothoracic surgeon; George A. Pjura, radiologist; Ann E. Behrend-Uhls, obstetrician/gynecologist; William T. Wester, orthopedics; and Matthew W. Wood, gastroenterologist.