Fill-in doc a revelation
So let me tell you a story about one "Lee from Latham." Every Monday, I get on the radio from 2 to 3 p.m. on WAMC's call-in show, "Vox Pop." For a few years now, I have used my time on that show to do something called "Medical Monday." We have all kinds of medical doctors as guests, taking calls from listeners with medical concerns. We have featured some of the best doctors in our region. For example, Dr. Mark Pettus of Berkshire Medical Center, a terrific kidney specialist, has been very well received, as have the folks from Canyon Ranch's crack medical staff and many more.

From Day One, one guy has always made the first call, often asking the doc of the day a tough but interesting medical question. The way that it works is that a screener sitting behind the window in the control room answers the call and writes the caller's name and town on a yellow Post-It
note, which he then sticks on the window for the folks in the studio. "Lee from Latham" always asks a very complicated question but is always respectful in the way he responds to the doctor. For a while, I sort of made a hero out of Lee, who speaks in very low tones. I'd say, "Now let's play 'Stump the Doctor.' "



I admit that I never knew quite what to make of Lee. Was he getting his questions from a medical encyclopedia? So, one day, I asked. He was, he said, a neurologist. OK, I admit it, I had my reservations. What was this guy doing at home calling in to the RoundTable every morning and Vox Pop on a regular basis? I always liked the guy, though I have to admit his low voice got me thinking he sounded a little depressed.

Fast forward to this week. Every once in a while at WAMC, calamity happens. Last Monday, my assistant came to tell me that the scheduled doc wasn't able to make it. I started calling the usual suspects, but no one was available on such short notice. So, I got this crazy idea to invite Lee from Latham to be doc of the day. I had my doubts, but I decided to do it anyway. When I called to ask if he'd join me, he told me he had Parkinson's disease and suffered from "dry eye syndrome." He was unable to drive and wanted to know if we could do it on the phone, but I said no, that it just wasn't good radio that way. So he said that he would ask his wife if she could drive him. She agreed, and it was done. I began to sweat bullets. But what was done was done.

At a quarter to 2, Lee and his wife, Pam, showed up. He was a youngish-looking man wearing wrap-around sunglasses. His hair was styled in a sort of crew cut. They sat, and I tentatively asked him where he went to medical school. The answer was the very prestigious Albert Einstein School of Medicine, where he also did his work leading to board certification in neurology.

He is an attending physician at Albany Nursing Home, where he used to be full time before his Parkinson's grew worse. His wife is a pharmacist.

At the appointed hour, off we went into the studio. The program began, and for the first few minutes, I asked him some neurology questions. Then came the first phone call. Well, Lee from Latham began to answer the complicated question. He answered it as if the caller was the most important patient in the world, with wisdom and compassion. He cited available drugs, the latest research, the latest treatment modalities and the up and down sides of various medications. Dr. Lee from Latham was on his game, and the man was phenomenal. Within seconds, every phone in the place lit up, and people waited patiently as this doctor's doctor took the time to speak to each person.

One after another, people called in and greeted him, saying that they had been listening to his questions on Vox Pop and were so happy to get to know him. And then something really incredible happened. It could have been the tension over how the show was going to go, or it could have been the feeling of euphoria that rolled over me as I saw this guy with Parkinson's struggling against the deal he'd been handed and still giving so much, or it could have been the idea that just once I had done something that turned out to be so good there was proof that there really is a power greater than ourselves. I started to cry. I don't know if it came across on the radio, but trust me, I was moved.



The day after the show, I got this message from Lee from Latham (aka Lee Krapin, M.D.). He wrote, "Many good things have happened in my life, but perhaps the best in the last half decade was the high honor and privilege of appearing with Dr. Alan Chartock on the Vox Pop radio hour on July 11th, 2005. Many thanks to Alan for this memorable and fulfilling experience, which the Krapin family will remember and cherish for the rest of our lives."

I can't stop crying.

Alan Chartock, a Great Barrington resident, is president and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and a professor emeritus of communications at SUNY-Albany.
- posted by Sarah @ 7/18/2005 07:59:00 AM