We’re thrilled you’ve taken a few moments to acquaint yourself with our
medical practice. Dr. Frank Barnhill’s office and practice has been
described by numerous publications as being environmentally friendly and
common sense based. We’ll take you on a visual tour in just a minute
and let you discover the difference for yourself.
Dr. Frank started
his environmentally friendly office designs in order to help patients
relax in a usually intimidating setting. Gone were the stainless steel
tables, white walls, pictures of golf or sports teams, and cold sterile
designs of other medical offices. Instead, relying on heavy influences
from friends at Disney, Warner Bros, and Hanna Barbera, Dr. Frank
designed and created individually themed microenvironments for each of
the areas in his office suite. During this period, a friend at a local
hospital noticed Dr. Frank’s habit of hugging everyone he spoke to while
making hospital rounds. She noticed how this lead a relaxing moment in
the ever exhausted hospital staff’s day and stated “it’s like being
hugged by a big old furry teddy bear! Thus, was born the nickname; Dr.
Huggie Bear.
It was obvious to Dr. Frank and staff that these changes led to
patient’s being so relaxed that for the first time in many’s lives, they
were able to easily relate their concerns and listen so carefully that
they were also able to take more active roles in their own healthcare.
This approach to healthcare was considered so novel that it was
headlined on the front page of the “Living Section” in twenty-two New
York Times Sunday newspapers around the country in 1986. Since then,
our office has been reviewed in dozens of publications and patients have
been interviewed about Dr. Frank’s unusual approach to the practice of
Family Medicine.
Our office’s approach to common sense healthcare starts with our
office Philosophy: “To provide the best healthcare possible”. One of
the goals included in the philosophy was that “we would treat each
patient as if they were a member of our own family”. Simply, that means
respecting their input when it involves their medical care or that of
their family. This respect includes issues of personal and religious
beliefs, as well as those concerns about the expense of medical care.
We resolved years ago to only refer our patients to specialists whom we
would trust to care for our families. That meant we had to look at a
doctor’s expertise when possible before making a referral appointment.
Our other goals of helping each person live as long a life free of
treatable disease as possible and to the fullest of their life’s
potentials led Dr. Frank to develop educational materials such as
drhuggiebear.com.
Dr. Frank and staff continue pursuing their goals and practicing that
philosophy today. That’s what makes the practice of Family Medicine so
much fun. We hope you take a look at our photo-tour (coming soon)
and visit the other links that tell important things about our office.
Here’s wishing you the best in a healthy long life.
Dr. Frank |
