Dr. Nichols: Thanks To My Current And Former Patients

By MICHAEL NICHOLS, M.D.
Los Alamos Children’s Clinic

As I retire after 40 plus years as a pediatrician at the Children’s Clinic, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the families of my patients and former patients from northern New Mexico. These families have entrusted me with the care of their infants, children, and adolescents since the summer of 1978 when I first came to Los Alamos as a medical student and then returned after completing my pediatrics residency in 1982.

Very few physicians have the good fortune to spend their entire career in such a setting. I had hoped to never fully retire unless I cognitively began to lose my skills, but the rest of my body did not cooperate as I have developed medical issues over the past decade. A broken neck this past summer has limited my ability to return to work in the office setting. The economics of medicine in 2023 with increasing costs along with decreasing reimbursement make it fiscally unsound for a physician such as me to continue part-time in private practice.

I am thankful to have been mentored as a young physician by Dr. Howard Wilson and Dr. Don Blossom who were as instrumental in molding me as a pediatrician as all of my formal training in medical school and residency. I have also been fortunate to work with other great physicians and staff at the Children’s Clinic and Los Alamos Medical Center. The Children’s Clinic remains in the competent hands of Dr.’s Neal, Schoonover, MacLean, and Physician Assistant Patricia McCulloch along with our wonderful staff of nurses and administrative personnel. Nurse Bella O’Hara had been my ‘work wife’ for many years and as she retired many patients will miss her presence much more than mine.

My wife Debi and children Bill and Betsy also deserve a lot of thanks, since my life as a pediatrician was not always compatible with being the most available husband and dad. Being on call for emergencies and newborns 24 hours a day including weekends and holidays was the expectation for pediatricians during a significant portion of my career. My family was very supportive of this life, despite it meaning I wasn’t always available for them, since a ‘beeper’ could summon me to the hospital at any time.

Looking back on the past 40 years, medicine has made major advances in vaccines to protect against serious childhood diseases such as meningitis and severe diarrhea. Other advances in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes and childhood cancer are also remarkable. At the same time, the manner in which patient care is provided has changed. The role of the general pediatrician in health care has become primarily an outpatient provider of preventive care and urgent care with neonatologists, pediatric hospitalists, pediatric subspecialists, and emergency room physicians being responsible for much of the care we once provided in Los Alamos as a “big city hospital in a small town.”

What I will miss most in retirement is the personal interaction with patients and their families. As medicine appears to become more a commodity than a vocation, my hope is that future physicians and generations of families can establish the relationships that I have been so lucky to have had during my career.

Thanks again for the honor and privilege of being a pediatrician for you and your family.

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