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About Us "Reliable Medical Practice Marketing Strategies are Good, But Learning How To Use Them Effectively Is Exactly What You Find Here......Period!"
"We care about the health of your practice and have created a top rated medical website to do something
about it!"We acknowledge the blessings of the Almighty each time in our lives we have used our talents for the benefit of other
medical doctors.You'll probably notice rather quickly I'm being held hostage by ambition and enthusiasm. Why else would I invest so much time in my life to the practice of medicine, and just plain helping people?
I know the good Lord put me exactly where he wants me, although many times I have seriously questioned his decision. But I wasn't about to argue
with Him.Adversity in my life no doubt gave me the tools to push my natural talents to their upper limits. I'm not complaining, mind you, but I have to admit they have kept me busy and out of trouble—most of the time! (Whole story at the bottom)
Adversity has an effect on all of us. Right? I'm sure it's the very reason Johnny Cash recorded the country hit, "A Boy Named Sue." And that isn't the half of it—my sister's name is Sue—so guess mom missed her chance! And I plain lucked out!
This is where we get personal!
I was raised in small rural town of Platea, PA.---population about 250. All were working hard to get by and hoping for a better life while WWII was going on. Attending a small two room school house (4 grades in each room) wasn't so bad. It was the outside toilets 40 yards from the school building in the winter that got to me.
Our country high school (about 200 students) in Girard, PA---population about 2500, still the same today--- could only handle two sports (basketball and football) ---unless you include gym class as the third. The American Legion sponsored two baseball teams in town for those of us who needed another challenge--and I was one of those.
The outfield was wild clumped grass that my grandfather mowed down weekly towing his mower behind his tractor.
Gas was 26 cents a gallon in 1952, and no one locked their doors. Imagine that! It was a generation of hard work and family reunions. We actually left our doors unlocked because we could trust our neighbors in those days. Dr. Hollingsworth was the only doctor in town and he made house calls---what I consider a real doctor.
At 12 I handled the small tractor by myself as most farm boys do. By 14 I was driving my grandparents around everywhere without a drivers license in our 51 Chevy. Nobody seemed to mind that, even the local town cop.
My embarrassment came when I flunked my first driver's test. He flunked me because I never shifted it into high gear in the parking lot driving course, he said.
However, it became evident to me that my cocky body language and smart-ass attitude about my supreme ability and driving experience in the previous 4 years was just more than the officer who gave me the test could tolerate--and I needed a little put down. He was right!
Second trip through the course was a snap.
My grandparents raised me (from age 11) on their hundred acre "working" farm. During those hours out in the fields with my grandfather (he taught school for 22 years before farming), I was given the golden rules to live by—and still do. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
With financial help from my family I worked my way through Allegheny College (Meadville, PA) and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA).
Almost every doctor finishing medical school at that time (1962) was being drafted--Vietnam conflict had started. I volunteered so that I would have a choice of military services. I served in the Navy and with the Marines 1961-1967.
It gets a lot more lively from here.
You see, my first mistake was in thinking that they couldn't send me to Vietnam if I was in the Navy. Boy---was I wrong!
After completing my year of internship at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia, my next assignment was on the new aircraft carrier USS GUADALCANAL in Philadelphia. After three days of sea trials in rough seas I came to my personal conclusion that sea-sickness should be placed on the list of disabling diseases.
After completing the 6 month course at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola April 1964, I was assigned to a Marine aviation unit HMM 365--MCAF Santa Ana, CA.
My second mistake was not considering the Marines had branches of aviation squadrons that deploy. You guessed it! Not that I really had any choice of assignments.
This Flight Surgeon with HMM 365 Marine Helicopter Squadron did deploy to Vietnam Oct. 1964. Fresh out of Internship (14 months after) I'm managing combat injuries.
Our tour in DaNang, Vietnam became a pivot point of my life. It turned out that I was one of the few Naval Flight Surgeons who actually flew on combat med-evac missions (over 80). Navy corpsmen normally do that. The Marine Corps has no medical personnel of their own. The Navy assigns corpsmen, physicians, and other medical-dental personnel to serve with the Marine units.
When my wife now says, "Let's go camping," I suddenly get a completely different vision of the process than she does.
I avoided the third mistake by resigning my commission June 1967.....stay in and you go back to Vietnam. Like the old "expectation" in the 1950s that joining the National Guard was a neat way to avoid actual combat and deployment outside the USA.
I completed three year specialty training residency (OB-GYN) at Hahnemann University Hospital and Medical School, Phila. PA. After 35 years in private practice in the Bay Area of CA and five years as a hospital employee after that in Michigan, I retired from practice in 1999 with no retirement plan.
"Great accomplishments have resulted from
the transmission of ideas and enthusiasm "Thomas J. Watson
Linda was raised in Portland, OR--- then Redding, CA, attended Univ. of Oregon, and spent over 30 years as a Medical Assistant in several doctor's offices, the last 25 in my office as manager. She has spunk, brains, and loves helping people. How could I help not marrying her?
It's impossible to relate how many times her incredible judgment, business savvy, and social acumen have kept me on the right path. The only exception I can think of is when she got me on a pair of skis for the first time at age 45.
You might say it bruised my ego, strained my judgment, terrorized my sense of balance, and scrapped my mental picture of how easy it would be—at least on the first day. We did come out about even when it came to camping.
OK—Now about my writing credentials:
My writing talent came to me as a surprise. The need to educate my patients became obvious right from the start of my medical practice. It began with constructing some simple medical instructions and advice as handouts for my patients. No other local physicians were doing that.
Forgetting what your doctor just told you is usual. This gave patients a second resource for the healthcare information without having to call back and ask.
It was easy for me to write everything in simple to understand terms. Patients often asked for extra medical handouts to give other family members and friends. An enjoyable hobby to educate my patients was all it was intended to be. My idea spread to other physicians.
My associates started making up their own patient information sheets using mine as a guide. An accumulation of instructional books and information about writing effectively kept me in the flame and improving my writing ability--even if it was just a hobby.
My brother is to blame.
He encouraged me to test the waters of the medical publication world just for the heck of it. Joe Conn, editor of Modern Physician, felt sorry for me and agreed to publish a short article of mine in Modern Physician. I was hooked.
Being able to publish ezines, newsletters, and e-books on the Internet has opened another great opportunity for me to continue to help other doctors using the knowledge both medical and business related which I have accumulated over
all those years.Many of my medical articles are being published in the article directories, primarily in ezinearticles.com, and SelfGrowth.com. My articles are all reviewed and approved by the ezine editors for acceptable, credible, and valuable content......no useless info allowed.
Websites on marketing a medical practice solutions never gets any better than what you'll find on this site.
It's hard to quit!—being productive, that is.
Imagine, a 71 year old computer illiterate mastering the Internet and becoming computer literate. Doesn't that beat all?
Somehow the thought of listing my credentials, medical and social organizations I belong to (and have belonged to), and other awards just doesn't seem appropriate here. Actually, all three awards turned out to belong to someone else! Just kidding!
If you prefer a list, I'll send you one—no problem! You can also have a copy of my CV if that's important to you.
(Curtis G. Graham, M.D., FACOG, FACS)
P.S. The medical profession has accomplished unbelievable expertise over time, but there remains for the older doctors the difficult process of adapting to the digital age of medicine. The new generation of physicians have jumped ahead on that issue while lacking in some of the more important issues critical to medical practice marketing success.
A few good marketing ideas can make a huge difference in marketing your medical practice and increasing practice income.
***A creative hoveround type of transport vehicle for disabled folks that will work in any weather or terrain.
(example)
My two room 1947 schoolhouse still exists as a community center.
1967 --grandpa and my kids on the farm I grew up on.
Does this bring back some old medical marketing memories for you?
Curt Graham, M.D., L & C Internet Enterprises, Inc.
2404 Mason Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89102
E-mail = cgmdrx(at)gmail.com© Curtis Graham, M.D., L & C Internet Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
