Front Lines

ediatrician
her patie
evel pm

NOTEBOOK

Dire Predictions

meet one of th offue,§... of success

Beth Robinson Swartz, M.D., is
t board certified pediatrician at
the Henry Ford Medical Center
West Bloomfield, and a member
oldie Henry Ford MedicOGroup.

-

-

Dr. Swartz says her patients teach
her a lot.

`Kids are incredibly resilient," she
says. "And they make me laugh.
They don't take themselves too
seriously''

Dr. Swartz, who attended Wayne

State University before heading
e.ast to graduate from the Boston
University School of Medicine, dis-
covered her calling early in her
training.

"Taring my first pediatric rotation,
I immediately Imes it was right for
me. Now, after 20 years m practice,
I still feel it was the best possible
choice."

Dr. Swartz sees patients from
infancy up to. 20 years old.

"It's fascinating and very reward-
ing, treating entire families as the
children age, from infants right up
until they leave for college. I love
treating the little ones, and .helping"
guide their development. T watch
them grow as people, and the way
their families evolve. Its incredibly
satisfying.

'Many of my patients are adoles-
cents," she says. 'Those with
-chronic diseases, such as asthma,
need a different approach as they
get older. Not only are there
changes in treatment as they grow,
but their attitude about their ill-
ness and medications may change
as well in this stage of develop-
ment."

Dr. Swartz sees some of her
patients at the medical center's
Wee-Care Clinic for pediatric
urgent care issues.

'Wee Care is child-based, so it is
more appropriate for kids than the
emergency department," she says.
"If you have a sick child, we can
see you right away. That's espe-
cially important to parents who
are already juggling their work

schedules to
take care of
their children."

Dr. Swartz lives
in West
Bloomfield
with her hus-
band, their two
teen-age chil-
dren and
Retb Robinson
Swartz. 'ALL).
chocolate
Labrador
retriever. She points 'out that her
own kids contribute to her job sat-
isfaction.

"My kids are very appreciative of
what I do," she says.

She remembers something her
daughter said when, at the age of
five, she encountered her first male
physician.

"It's standard practice that doctors
don't treat their own family mem-
bers, so my kids have their own.
The first time my daughter was
seen by a /Dale pediatrician, she
said to me, didn't think men
could be: doctors!"

'

Dr. Swartz notes that, although
the department has a lactation
consultant, she has experience in
consulting with breast-feeding
mothers.

.

"It's great to be part of a team that
works together as well as we do.
Our entire Pediatric Department in
West Bloomfield, including the
nurses and front-desk staff, really
enjoy our work."

Another way she focuses On kids is
as a board member of the Fresh Air
Society, where she has been active
for several years. After being both a
camper and counselor, Dr. Swartz
also spent 10 years as a camp
doctor at Camp Tamarack in
Ortonville.

When not at her office, Dr. Swartz
can often be found practicing yoga
or working in a ceramics studio.
She and her family are members Of
Temple Idol Ami, in West
Bloomfield.

FOr

N/Ori? itlibrinCititql or 90 M(Ike

risit our Web site invw.ilenryford.cont

12

March 9 • 2006

I

Synagogues To Close In
2007, To Be Replaced By
Internet Chat Rooms
Pluralism conflicts will be resolved as
each person gets his own shul.

The Kustanowitz
Purim Kronikle
The Jewish world was stunned today
by a National Bored of Rabbis •
announcement that all synagogues in
the United States would shut their
doors forever, sometime before the
end of 2006.
After centuries of conflict among the
various forms of Judaism and the fre-
quent formation of new breakaway syn-
agogues, a combination of technologies

has finally resolved the interdenomina-
tional bickering
and made it possi-
ble for all Jews to
be satisfied by
having their very
own synagogues
located in an
Internet chat
room accessed
Sy Manello
from their home.
Editorial
Because chat-
Assistant
ting in shul has
become common-
place across the
religious spectrum, there is already a
base of experience for the new concept,
and most individuals are not expected
to feel any difference.
Although many issues divided
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform,
Reconstructionist, Egalitarian, Chabad,
Satmar, Young Israel, Aguda, Ashkenaz,
Sfard and many others, the one point
that all agreed on was the need for the

Jewish Camping Linked To Civil Rights

Jewish summer camping during the
Civil Rights era transformed a genera-
tion of American Jewish baby boomers
whose political consciousness was
raised around campfires and in bunk
discussions. Anthropologist Riv-Ellen
Prell will discuss this topic March 1-6 as
she delivers the University of Michigan's
16th Annual David W. Belin Lecture in
American Jewish Affairs at 7 p.m. in the
Michigan Room at the Michigan
League, 911 N. University in Ann Arbor.
In her lecture, ewish Summer
Camping and Civil Rights: How
Summer Camps Launched . a
Transformation in American Jewish
Culture,' Professor Prell, chair of
American Studies at the University of
Minnesota, will explore the tradition of
summer camping for young American
Jews during the 1960s and her surpris-
ing discovery of how integral a civil

IlLEPIET

rights curriculum was, and how it
served as a way to rethink American
Judaism and American Jewish identity.
Many of these Jewish baby boomers
went on to become leaders in their
fields
Dr. Prell is currently writing a book
on the creation of an American Jewish
youth culture following World War II.
She is the author of several books and
writes and teaches about 20th-century
American Jewish culture with a partic-
ular interest in gender, ethnicity and
community.
The event is free and open to the •
public. A reception will follow the lec-
ture, which is sponsored by U-M's Jean
and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies.

.

— Keri Guten Cohen,

story development editor

'cha Don't Know

What is unique about the Jewish populations of Deal, N.J.;
Los Angeles, Calif.; and Phoenix, Ariz.?

—Goldfein

1089480

oppointinent•'1-80(i-HEVRYFORI) or

f you think of all the predictions of
things to come that have come and
gone (the predictions, that is) with
little or no effect, maybe you will enjoy
this humorous column that appeared
on the Internet a few years ago.

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puo3as alp ')quaoti ci pue :Apununuo3 qs!mar uquell lsafpei aq4 lsalabuy sol
:AT!unwwo3 gsimar uepAs ;sabiel ayl sey Ina papun ayl ui :Jamsuy