Focus on Medicine

Given the choice, Steve Morris prefers to carry his medical practice around in a small, leather bag.

This week, as far as anyone in the South Whidbey medical field can remember, Morris, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, became the first Whidbey Island doctor in years to make house calls a regular part of his work day. On Wednesday night, he saw his first island patient in a home setting, an infant who was screaming and pulling at his ear.

He received a call from the little boy’s mother just as he was heading home from his Mukilteo clinic. On his way out the clinic door, he grabbed his leather satchel, packed up his examination tools and a few naturopathic remedies and drove to the Mukilteo ferry dock.

About an hour later, that screaming infant was quiet, the pain caused by a middle ear infection soothed by a doctor and medicine that came right into the living room of his house. The family did not have to take an expensive trip to the Whidbey General Hospital emergency room to seek treatment for the child, nor did the boy have to spend the night in pain until Morris was back in his clinic the next morning.

Morris, who recently began advertising his new pediatric house call service, said the visit was everything he had hoped it would be.

“I felt like I was part of the family, in a way,” he said.

What is new for Morris is something from the old days of rural medicine. House calls are a rarity on Whidbey Island, according to island health professionals, and have been for decades. Until Morris — a South Whidbey resident and 20-year medical professional — started his house call service, it had been almost impossible to find a doctor who would make a home visit.

“It is a rare event for a medical practitioner on Whidbey Island,” said Tim McDonald, director of the Island County Health Department, this week.

Working in a referral partnership with Freeland M.D. and pediatrician Robert Wagner, Morris said he is bringing a medical care option to South Whidbey patients that makes seeing the doctor both more convenient and comfortable — all for the same $45 to $65 fee he charges patients who come to his clinic. On a home checkup visit to the Clinton home of Kim and Joe Dunkley Thursday, Morris was appreciated even though he was not there to deal with a medical emergency.

“Just to have a doctor come and say it’s OK is a help,” said Kim Dunkley, a mother of two.

Though the demise of the house call is likely attributable to convenience issues — a doctor can see far more patients every day in a clinic than in traveling from house to house — Morris said he enjoys seeing a portion of his patient load outside of the office. And though calls for his help may come in the middle of the night, he said many of the house calls he will do in the future will fit well into his home and family life.

For the time being, Morris is only doing house calls on South Whidbey outside of his regular clinic hours. He said he will treat the maladies he can in patients’ homes; for more complex problems, he will refer patients to treatment at his clinic or, when standard medicine is required, to Dr. Wagner’s office. He will also make hospital and emergency room referrals when necessary.

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