781 McHenry Ave.'s - Dedication Ceremony
Lord, be with us today as we dedicate this site to you. May this place be a haven for those who are weary, sick and tired. May your holy spirit fill us so we may show the love of Christ to all who enter in. Keep safe all the workers who will toil to make our dream here become reality. We ask this in Christ our Lord. Amen
So why are we making our practice more private by purchasing and constructing our own building at a time when around the country private practices are being bought left and right by giant health corporations? When doctors are leaving the close intimacy of private practice and becoming corporate employees doing only shift work?
Well..........Medicine is almost indistinguishable from what it was 12 years ago when I started this practice. The business side of the practice now consumes a great deal of resources. Medicare and managed care play Monday night quarterback with us, denying claims even though the deniers are comfy and warm in their bureaucratic desks miles away. Prescriptions are altered by the paying agency to fit the bargain of the month.
I hate to admit it, but even our 3 doctor practice is nothing more than a tiny ant for a giant insurer to step on. The financing of health care may change entirely. Maybe just around the corner is nationalized health with national restrictions of how and where a person gets treated. A patient may soon be unable to get care that falls out of an established protocol.
Contrast that with the intimacy of the doctor-patient relationship. Contrast that with the very uniqueness God endowed on each individual.
In which of these do you believe? We all are okay with taking a number? Or we need a personal relationship with a doctor who can know us and treat us as an individual?
Sure everyone says they believe in the latter, but when it comes down to sacrificing personal security and carrying around an annoying beeper. many doctors are selling out. Selling out not just their lifestyle, but your individuality as well.
I believe that doctor-patient intimacy stands a chance of surviving only if we physicians fight to preserve the sanctity of our relationships with our patients.
We here at Caring Family are moving from the relative freedom of renters to that of mortgage holders, planting ourselves firmly into the soil of Crystal Lake. We sing: "I owe I owe, it's off to work I go." Am I scared? Sure I am. But I believe God will be with us if we are truly serving His people with love and compassion. Hear the words of one of God's prophets:
Jeremiah 17:7-8 But I will bless the person who puts his trust in me. He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because it's leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps bearing fruit.
Listen also to St. Paul's 1st letter to the:
I Corinthians 12:4-7,11 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.
Everyone present here is playing a part in bringing this dream to fulfillment. I wouldn't be here without Centegra's Gail Bumgarner when NIMC helped me start this practice in 1988, I wouldn't be here period without my mother and late father, Harris bank is trusting in us enough to set us up with the financing now on this property and the construction, Mark Elmore has used the gift God gave him in both artistic talent as well as managerial talent to bring into being our roughly shaped ideas, Bob Tonyan is going to use a masterful gift of peacemaking to coordinate all of the progress on this building and Father Geoff has been a big peacemaker and spiritual guide in his 13 years here in Crystal Lake.
Showing love, honesty, cooperation and respect is a stated commitment of all of the staff members of Caring Family. Though Rick Barta gets the glory of managing the practice, truly every staff member in this practice shows a great capacity to bring Christ's love and healing to others. I believe this is what makes Caring Family different.
I believe that the Holy Spirit works through this dedicated staff. To see a staff that can return an insult with a nicety, to return rudeness with patience, to return vulgarity with peace, that is a blessing that makes me sing your praises!
Most of the time!!! And I truly hope that we can continue to model Christ's love so that maybe some patients and some fellow workers, and some vendors passing through are enticed as to find or rejuvenate their faith.
When Jesus healed people's physical ailments he had a profound effect on their faith. I can speak for all of us physicians here that we know we are only instruments in the hands of the one and only healer, our one God and Creator.
Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the laborers [are] few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."
What a magnificent role to play in God's plan! May we courageously untangle ourselves from any allegiance that may usurp our ability to be followers of God's healing spirit.
May this building grow laborers not just for Caring Family, but for the harvest of God's kingdom.
COMMENTS: Racquel N. Ramirez, M.D., George N. Gancayco, M.D., Mark Elmore- architect, Frank Catini- Harris Bank, Gail Bumgarner- CENTEGRA
Dedication Prayer-Fr. Geoffrey Wirth from St. Thomas church
Let's Break Open that ground!!!!!