The Beginning

The drive up here was pleasant.  One bit of advice- when driving by yourself, bring something to sing along to, or play some kind of game with your head, because driving alone can get really boring.  I found my hotel in Petoskey, settled down a little and went over to the downtown to find some food.  To those of you that visit this area, check out Thai Orchid, it’s a good Thai place.  Don’t ask me how authentic it is though, because I am not sophisticated enough to know that, sorry :).  Whoever designed Petoskey’s downtown did a good job.  There are lots of stores and restaurants to wander through. 

The next day, my first official day, I took off from Petoskey to meet Dr. Stewart in Charlevoix.  The sun had not fully risen yet, and a light breeze came from the Lake.  Windows down, the drive was beautiful especially when I turned a corner and saw Lake Michigan below me.  What a nice alternative to the construction barrels I usually see at home.

When you enter Charlevoix, you will see gorgeous petunia beds lining the street and huge planters overflowing with flowers hanging from streetlamps.  This is an adorable city I thought, No wonder they call it ‘Charlevoix the Beautiful’.  Dr. Stewart later told me that the whole city gathers to plant these flowers in one day of early spring.  That is the nicest community activity that I have heard of.  I crossed the drawbridge and headed west on Park Avenue.  The houses were small-ish but, unlike the garish mammoth-size houses people like to buy at home, all of these houses had character and were definitely not cookie cutter.  Here’s an example:

An Earl Young home.  This architect designed other homes in the area, called Mushroom Houses

I met Dr. Stewart at the hospital and found that he was every bit as warm and caring as I had imagined him to be when I talked to him on the phone.  We took a tour of Charlevoix Hospital, which sits on Lake Michigan; thus, all hospital rooms have a view of this- If got sick I would like to recover here.  Then, we saw the clinic where he spent most of his days working.  He works with a group of five other physicians in a private practice: Pine River Medical Associates.

Addendum (8/9/10): After experiencing life as a physician here for the past two weeks, I find that Dr. Stewart’s practice is not only unique, but it is also the ideal set up, at least for me.  Not only do the physicians in Dr. Stewart’s practice see patients in the clinic (and occasionally make home visits), but they also have a contract with Charlevoix Hospital to provide ER services.  Until a few years ago, they also handled a large share of the OB/GYN cases in the area.  The physicians, thus, have a little of everything and truly take on the role of the ‘old country doctor’- They see patients in the clinic, run the ER and deliver babies; basically, they can see a patient from birth, through any major and minor crises in the hospital and into adulthood.  Awesome right?

After that, Dr. Stewart headed home and I stayed to shadow Dr. Mann.  Basically, Dr. Stewart takes Wednesdays off during the summer because he races his sailboat on that day- the physicians here have a really nice lifestyle.  I can't wait for the next two weeks.  More on the boat racing in a future entry.