ONE-STOP MEDICAL CENTER; DOCTORS' PARK IS A FAR-SIGHTED PLAN

Doctors' Park offers patients one-stop medical care in a campus-like setting.

Ron Wittmer, president of Cape Girardeau Doctors' Park Inc., said the park plays a key role in the local economy and brings many people to town. Yet many people don't understand the size and scope of the 51-acre facility.

For example, Wittmer said he recently answered a phone call from a woman who explained that her sister had been injured on the job.

"She asked me to connect her with the office where she had been sent. I explained that it would be very difficult to do if she didn't know the name of the doctor or location of the office," Wittmer said.

"Obviously she was not acquainted with the park, because she then asked me for the telephone numbers of all the offices."

At present the park has 27 buildings, 61 offices, approximately 120 physicians, dentists and other professionals, close to 500 employees, over 70 individual phone numbers, and on any given day 2,500 to 2,800 people go in and out of the park, said Wittmer.

He added that a recent retail survey on customer travel revealed that the number one reason for out-of-town people visiting Cape Girardeau was that they had either been to the doctor or brought someone to the doctor.

Wittmer said the Doctors' Park concept, with its park-like setting and individual office buildings, draws national attention, even after 20 years.

"We have people come from all over, all parts of the country, to look at this concept," Wittmer said.

He said the park also helps recruit new doctors to Cape Girardeau. "It is prestigious to have a Doctors' Park address and people know where Doctors' Park is.

"Almost all the specialities are offered here," Wittmer said. "We just recently had heart surgeons move into the park. We recruit as many specialities as possible. We want as many as possible in this type of setting."

Dr. Thomas Sparkman, chairman of the board at Doctors Park added: "We like the arrangement of doctors being in centralized location. If a patient needs to see a consultant, they don't have to drive all over town to find the consultant."

At Doctors' Park, family doctors, surgeons, obstetricians, dermatologists, podiatrists, urologists, ear-nose-and-throat specialists, allergists, psychiatrists, plastic surgeons and many other specialists work in close proximity with each other.

"If a patient has to see another doctor or a specialist, the office is probably not far away," Wittmer said. "We have so many people from out of town, if they needed to go to someone else, chances are they are right here."

In addition to physicians offices, Doctors' Park offers X-ray services, laboratories, pharmacies and a sandwich shop.

One of the other services available at Doctors' Park is Doctors' Park Surgery, an outpatient center for patients who do not need to stay overnight after a surgical procedure.

Wittmer said the park keeps patients at the center of its design.

"A person can see their doctor, have their lab work or X-rays done here and pick up their prescriptions before they leave," he said. "We try to offer everything to take care of the patient."

For example, each building has its own parking area. "Patients can park much closer to the door than if we had one single building," Wittmer said.

"If everyone was in one large building, you would lose the park setting," he said. "And patients would have to park a lot farther away.

"Everything has the patient in mind. We want to make it as easy as possible."