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The Spiritual Physician

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

In many ways, William Standish Reed is an old-fashioned guy.

When he practiced medicine, he made house calls. He's proud, but not boastful, of his ancestor Myles Standish, who came from England with the Pilgrims in 1620. He joined the Navy after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, serving for six years. He dresses nattily and plays the violin, and his sonorous voice always holds a respectful tone.

But in another way, the retired surgeon is a man who once was way ahead of his time, a forward thinker who ventured into uncharted territory.

He has always championed the importance of treating the whole person: spirit, mind and body. The tools of his profession begin with the Bible.

"Faith in Jesus can affect transformation of impossible situations into possible ones, darkness and hopelessness into light and optimism, sickness into health," he says.

On Thursday, the Tampa physician was presented the President's Heritage Award from the Christian Medical & Dental Association at its annual meeting in Bloomingdale, Ill. According to the group's chief executive officer, David Steven, Reed was chosen for his "remarkable dedication to God through years of service and his devotion to the medical profession here and around the world."

Now think about it. We're talking about God and medicine in the same context. For Reed, 87, the two go together.

"How can you take God out of the equation?" he asks.

Way back in 1960, in Henderson, Texas, he and his late wife, Kay, founded the Christian Medical Foundation. The nonprofit organization investigated prayer in healing and gave voice to people who shared Reed's beliefs. When the couple moved to Tampa, so did the foundation. Reed provided much of its financial support.

It wasn't easy in the early years.

Reed told me in 2006 that many of his peers regarded him as a religious fanatic, or just a nut.

"I thought they were going to tar and feather me, then send me on my way," he said.
Changing Attitudes
Mixing science and spirituality was once taboo among medical professionals, at least publicly. That is changing - in medical schools and among patients, who believe in the benefit of spiritual intercession along with whatever science can offer.

You might be surprised by some of the universities that offer courses in the relationship of prayer and faith to healing. Among them: Duke University in North Carolina; The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Healing in Washington, D.C.; the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Even the University of South Florida.

In a significant move a few years ago, the American Association of Medical Colleges called for medical educators to teach students "how to incorporate awareness of spirituality, culture, beliefs and practices into the care of patients."

Reed could write the textbooks for these courses. It was his world long before it was accepted.

More than six decades ago, when he was attending medical school at the University of Michigan, he and a professor of pathology met for prayer and healing services in a room across from the morgue. While not forbidden, it certainly wasn't mainstream practice.

Keep the two disciplines separate. That was the message Reed got - and ignored. If a patient requested prayer, he would be the first to give it.

"Science offers much, but not everything. Faith gives us hope when there isn't any," he says.

He points to his own denomination, the Episcopal Church, which endorses healing services. The greatest physician of all, he says, was Jesus Christ, who healed the sick in his short but heralded ministry on Earth.

Reed served on the staffs at several local hospitals, including Tampa General and University Community. He incorporated prayer into his practice only if the patient asked for it. But that didn't stop him from silently invoking God's grace at critical moments.

To the physician who believes in God's healing, Reed says, "There is never the thought of a pronouncement of incurability. With God, all things are possible."

Life's Next Phase

Reed stopped doing surgical procedures in 1991, but kept his license and stayed active in the foundation. For years, he conducted a Tuesday morning Bible study at the foundation's headquarters, located in a quaint former Advent Christian Church on North Lynn Avenue in Tampa.

Participants called themselves the "Third Day Adventists." Most belonged to other churches, but came for the Bible study, a potluck lunch and an afternoon lecture by Reed. He also wrote prescriptions, reviewed medical charts and made referrals to those who sought medical care.

"He's one of those people who are always available, no matter what time of day. You need to talk to him at 3 in the morning? You can call, and he will listen," says Gil Clemons, who attended the Bible study for 10 years. "Dr. Reed is basically a good human being who really knows how to teach the Bible. He's got the smarts medically and spiritually."

Reed lost Kay four years ago to cancer. He was lonely, but he kept the foundation going and even traveled on a medical mission to Ethiopia. In December, after a whirlwind romance with a woman introduced to him by a friend, he married Jo Ann, a Texan from the Hill Country. They're having a blast.

"The Lord is good," he declares.

In April, he finally gave in to age and finances. He sold the church building to an Ybor City minister and moved the foundation to his house, where he still sees patients for holistic treatment and counseling. On Sundays, he's a lay reader at St. John's Episcopal Church in Tampa.

"I think Jesus has something else in store for me," he says. "I'm a doctor, but I'm an evangelist first. That's my first and true calling. There is still work to be done."

Never mind he's in his ninth decade of life. William Standish Reed is making the most of every single day - mind, body and soul.

Michelle Bearden can be reached at (813) 259-7613 or mbearden@tampatrib.com.

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