Sinai Hospital
SUMMER 1994 ISSUE: FAMILY PRACTICE AND WOMEN'S SERVICES
Overview
Sinai Health Services
A Doctor for All Seasons
The Family Practitioner
he new kid on the
block when it comes to
medicine is the family
practitioner — the doc-
tor who now serves as
the gatekeeper to the
numerous specialties that have
evolved in the last 50 years.
The new "kid" is actually the old
general practitioner= the Marcus
Welby, M.D.-type, who used to treat
inflamed tonsils andingrown toe-
nails, gallstones and kidney stones,
indigestion and influenza — and
most of the maladies that pursue
the typical family in the course of a
lifetime.
Modern family physicians, how-
ever, are different from Dr. Welby,
who relied on his black bag and
fairly basic skills. Today's family
physicians have completed a com-
prehensive, demanding, three-year
residency training program that en-
ables them to treat the needs of the
entire family with a solid knowledge
of the latest medical technology and
therapy.
According to Sander A. Kush-
ner, D.O., Chairman of Sinai Hos-
pital's Department of Family Med-
icine, the family practitioner's most
important mission is to keep fami-
lies healthy and out of the hospital.
"We'd rathenprevent disease than
rir
Dr. Kushner is particularly
pleased that he is about to establish
a program for training family physi-
cians at Sinai, in a department that
is only three years old.
The new Program • Director
for Sinai's Family Practice Resi-
dency Program Peter Scuccimar-
ri, M.D., anticipates the approval of
Sinai as a training site for family
practitioners this year. The main
campus Family Practice Center will
be a state-of-the-art teaching facil-
ity designed to train family practice
residents to be the family practi-
tioners of the future. Says Dr.
Scuccimarri, "By training family
practitioners, we are helping to
make this speciality more accessi-
ble to the communities we serve."
Dr. Scuccimarri projects the addi-
tion of four residents per year so
that, eventually, 12 will be on staff
at all times. Sinai currently has a
roster of 32 family practitioners, and
this is expected to grow to 50 with-
in the next two years.
• 5;
PE 1AL ADVERTISEMEN
According to Chairman
of Family Medicine
Sander Kushner,
D.O., pictured at right,
family practitioners
would rather "prevent
disease than treat
disease."
"Born to be Fie' Fitness Carnival
Sinai Hospital and the Detroit Recreation Depart
ment will bring quality health care to the community
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept 10 at the Adams-
Butzel Recreation Center located on Lyndon between
Wyoming and Meyers. The "Born to be Fit" Fitness
Carnival will feature free blood pressure and choles-
terol screenings; vision and glaucoma tests; and hear-
ing tests provided by Sinai health professionals.
Speakers will discuss nutrition, women's health issues,
emotional health and foot fitness.
For more information, call SinaiSource at 1-800-
248-3627.
treat disease," he states.
Dr. Kushner's enthusiasm for
family practice — America's
fastest growing specialty —
began after his own graduation
from medical school in 1960.
At that time he recognized a
need for more advanced train-
ing for family practitioners. In
1974, Dr. Kushner was among the
first general practitioners in the city
to first receive certification in this
newly advanced specialty of family
medicine. Since then, Dr. Kushner
has seen dramatic growth in fami-
ly practice, particularly in response
to the demand for affordable, qual-
ity health care.
As an example of cost contain-
ment, Dr. Kushner describes a typ-
ical patient who complains of chest
pain. The family physician can
either diagnose the cause of the
pain or, if specialty skills are
required, can refer the patient
appropriately. Formerly, the patient
might have made the rounds from
cardiologist to pulmonary special-
ist to physiatrist — a very expensive
and time-consuming quest, often
attended with a fair amount of frus-
tration. "Eighty-five percent of all
health problems can be properly di-
agnosed and treated by a family
physician," Dr. Kushner notes.