tion and there were great opportunities for the residents to do everything . The teaching and faculty were excellent . I loved the biopsychosocial model of medicine – the whole family , the whole person . I delivered babies , took care of a lot of kids and adults , and did some volunteer work at a homeless shelter . It was a catch-all .”
After training , Lancaster General bought a smaller hospital in Columbia , Pennsylvania and recruited Dr . Bird to join in family medicine . It was an exciting time for him , but after four years there , he had to consider his priorities .
“ We were on vacation and my wife said it was the first weekend she had seen me in seven weekends . That was a moment of realization . These were people I ’ d trained with , and they were wonderful people , but I wanted to go out on my own and see what I could do outside of the extended training program .”
In reevaluating his career path , he decided he ’ d do locum tenens while he and his wife travelled the country .
“ I ’ d work a few months here and a few months there , kind of like a test drive for jobs and communities .”
They bought a large van to tow a camper and were ready … until their son started walking shortly thereafter . Realizing that life in a camper with a toddler might not be a good idea , they explored other options . Friends from Lancaster had recommended Louisville and Dr . Bird was soon recruited to Jewish Hospital , where he worked for a year before switching to Baptist Floyd in New Albany . After two years there , he began to consider opening his own practice . In the process of coming up with a business plan , he was hired to open Baptist Urgent Care in Middletown . Just a few weeks into that , any interest in having his own practice was gone .
Over the next 10 years , he enjoyed what he called an “ ER-lite ” practice and developed relationships with the patients and staff . However , as his now two children were getting older , he realized he was taking more and more time off from work for things like sports and recitals and was ready to get back to straight family practice .
“ It was a great experience there , but when your kids are that age , you have to embrace every bit of it while you can ,” he said . “ When I put in my notice , one of the nurses asked why I was leaving , and I joked that I was making sure to leave while they still liked me .”
At that time , a doctor at Baptist Eastpoint was leaving and he filled that role . Nearly 10 years later , he couldn ’ t be happier . He describes his days in family practice as “ routine , punctuated by episodes of loving kindness and intensity .” Never knowing what to expect in a day , he said listening is the most important part of the patient ’ s visit .
“ We have such time pressures to keep moving on this assembly line . But I have to listen to my patients . You just don ’ t know where that next brain tumor is going to be , who that next person suffering from alcohol use disorder is , if that person who is suffering horribly from depression is putting on a brave face . They will tell you what ’ s wrong with them if you just listen .”
As he ’ s listening , he makes notes of personal details of each patient using the EHR virtual sticky notes . From their dog ’ s and children ’ s names , to where a Louisville native went to high school ( something that puzzled him when he first moved here , but now he fully embraces ) it ’ s all important to better understand the patient .
Dr . Bird often uses Point-of-Care Ultrasound ( POCUS ). After listening to an internal medicine podcast in 2019 , he went and bought a handheld ultrasound probe that attaches to his phone and joined the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine .
“ POCUS is not an ultrasound machine , and I don ’ t do ultrasound studies . I essentially use it as a ‘ stethoscope 2.0 .’ I use it for many applications , but probably what I use it for most is the epidemic of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis , which is basically fatty liver . We will have people who are overweight or pre-diabetes or diabetes whose liver enzymes are elevated , and I will show them their liver right there and then . It ’ s not to replace the ultrasound
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