TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

When Needed, This Doctor Was Always In

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE OTTO

sotto@tampatrib.com

Published: October 27, 2008

I was the new guy, no health insurance, no money and I needed to see a doctor.

"Go see Dr. McEachern," said the guy sitting next to me on the sports desk. "It's 10 bucks and if you don't have it he'll just wave his hand in the air and ask you to pay it when you get it."
Myron McEachern died last week in Alabama at the age of 92. I received this letter from Judge Chris Altenbernd. It says it all.

"I noticed in the obituaries that Dr. Myron McEachern died. He apparently was living with his daughter in Alabama. I think Tampa ought to have a statue to honor this man, but it would be nice if we at least had a story about him.

"Myron had a little 1950s medical office nestled between the Hillsborough County Medical Association office and Gorrie Elementary School. The waiting room was paneled in Florida pine and decorated with mounted bass that I bet Myron had caught. His wife, Mildred, was his receptionist\nurse\bookkeeper.

'Never Failed To Cure Me'

"I first went to Myron with a viral infection in the 1980s.

"Myron did not make appointments. You showed up and waited your turn. Many of his patients were low-income or down-and-outers who lived in Hyde Park before it rebounded. Once I got to know Mildred, if I called ahead, she would 'put me in line' and then called to rush me to the office when I was third in line.

"Myron would carefully examine me on an old wooden table with iron stirrups, unnecessary for my treatment. He would determine my ailment and then we would discuss possible medications. He would explain the cost of the medicine and how quickly it would work. Often I opted for an additional day of sickness and the cheaper medication. Then we would get to the serious business of discussing his children. He was enormously proud of them.

"Upon leaving his office, his wife would explain they didn't take insurance and would charge me $10 or $15 for a visit that has lasted 25 minutes. His treatment never failed to cure me.

"In her 80s, Mildred developed some form of dementia. She worked the desk as long as she could. And then he put her in one of the examination rooms. He cared for her all day long while treating the patients that came through the front door. One day the office was no longer open. The last true general practice doctor in Tampa deserved a ticker tape parade but he and his wife just sort of faded from the community.

No Snakes, But Holy Cats!

"Myron once explained to me that when he came to Tampa he knew nothing about snakebites. When picnicking with his young children, one of them was almost bitten by a rattlesnake. Realizing that she might have died, Myron went to Tampa General and asked if he might observe the treatment of snakebites. He became a genuine expert in the field and treated snakebites in Hillsborough County for thirty years."

My favorite McEachern story was about his being called out to a farm in Bloomingdale. It would be dark when he arrived to see the farmer's wife, and the farmer warned him to be careful of snakes in the high grass.
McEachern said that when he arrived he poked a stick in front of him, shining his flashlight on the ground. He did the same thing when he left. When he reached the car, he put the flashlight on the roof while he opened the door. When he reached up to get the flashlight, he found himself face to face with a panther.

"Both of us ran in different directions," he remembered.

Keyword, Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's columns.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT