I'm one of those guys that doesn't go to the doctor much. Frankly, I don't really get sick all that often and I'm lucky enough (or is it mad skills?) that I don't get hurt much either. However, every couple of years I need to see a doctor, so I grab the book that came with my insurance plan and pick a name that sounds like a good doctor. If you are thinking, "Hey great idea!" you are wrong. I've seen doctors I don't trust, doctors that don't return phone calls, and doctors that can't bill my insurance right so they try and make me do it.
Last week, that all changed forever. I've been having trouble with my foot. I saw two different doctors for it, one was my wife's doc, the other was a friend's. Neither one was very helpful or left me feeling confident. Both said to wait and see what happens. (Hello? Standard doctor avoiding male here! I didn't come see you until I had already waited so long I was ready to cut the stupid thing off myself.)
Then, I saw Dr. Saeed at Healthmark. Healthmark was founded by a guy (Dr. Robert Gleser) who apparently was ahead of the curve on the whole integrated medicine thing. Do enough Google-ing and you'll find him quoted in a lot of articles (including the Wall Street Journal) that are 8 to 10 years old and are all written in the "hey this is really unusual" style regarding the concept of add non-traditional therapies to standard medicine in caring for patients. His book is out of print, but sounds like a lot of those books out there today making the rounds on Oprah. I guess timing is everything.
Anyway, Dr. Saeed is a podiatrist and he is top-notch, first rate, outstanding. Quite frankly, he is the best doctor I have ever been to. He understood what was wrong with my foot and more importantly helped ME to understand. He also was able to break out my symptoms so I knew what needed taken care of now (shaving off part of a callus and digging out it's "core") and what was coming later (tarsal tunnel causes that falling asleep kind of burning on the bottom of your foot.)
Since this is a Healthmark review, I'll move on from Dr. Saeed. This is a multi-doctor practice. Sometimes this makes me nervous. At other doctor offices with several doctors I start to feel like I'm at Great Clips for medicine. I didn't feel that way here. They've got 15 or so doctors here, but there are specialists sprinkled in there. The staff at the front desk is both friendly and professional, and it was easy to make appointments. They also seem like they know what they are doing with the paperwork so I don't think I'll be hearing from the insurance company.
I have an appointment this week with the woman who will be my new primary doctor, so I'll update this review if things change, but for now, I highly recommend Healthmark.
By the way, I haven't used it, but they also have acupuncture and chiropractic here, so if you are looking for that, these might be your guys.
Their website is www.healthmark.org -- You can tell by the fact that they get to use the Healthmark name despite the American Heart Association trademark of the same thing that they have been around for a while. They must have beaten them to it :) read more