family practice

When we moved to Kansas City, my parents decided to find a Family Practice doctor so that our entire family could go to one place. For many years, Dr. Baird was just my doctor. We were in and out quickly, dealing with a cough or flu or my silly shoulder injury from Baskin Robbins scooping... I was a teenager, and I didn't really pay much attention. She was just my doctor.

When I graduated from K-State and returned to Kansas City, I simply continued seeing her for yearly physicals and the occasional sickness. Again - just going through the motions. She was just my doctor.

But, I started noticing something a couple years ago... She was this person we all had in common, but never saw together. She started looking much younger once I was an adult, and I began to look at her in a more human way. She was this person who knew personal things about each of us, and took care of us - but we barely knew her. She was the one who cried when she told my dad she saw something on the scan. She was the one who listed everyone by name and asked how they were doing. She was the one who delivered my nephew, and she'll be the one who delivers our baby this summer.

She was also one of the most impactful people who came through the line at the funeral. I saw her and I lost my breath. This caregiver. This person who I had never seen outside of the office - she was in our church, and she crying with the rest of us. She added time to my appointment that Monday, and she was ready with a list of pregnancy safe medications to help me sleep and advice for keeping my stress under control.

I don't believe that care like that exists many places anymore. I get weepy thinking about how she puts such a loving face to modern medicine.