Doctor's love of children shows in good works
DAYTONA BEACH -- An 8-year-old's drawing of Dr. Andrea Thorpe hangs on an examining room door at Halifax Keech Health Center with a heart drawn on her breast pocket and a bubble from her mouth proclaiming: "I love kids."
Thorpe pushes past the door and plays along with a small patient hiding in the corner, "Where is Kim? Did she go home -- do you think?"
| At a glance |
| NAME: Dr. Andrea P. Thorpe HOMETOWN: Port Orange BIRTHPLACE: Kingston, Jamaica FAMILY: Lives with her mother, Joyce, 83, and is a single mother to two grown sons, Fred, 25, and Andre, 21. EDUCATION: Bachelor of science and medical degrees from University of the West Indies; completed residency at Bronx- Lebanon Hospital Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y. |
After a few giggles from behind the toy play station, Kimberly Burroughs, 7, of Ormond Beach comes out.
"There you are!" booms Thorpe's voice, with a lilt of her native Jamaica. "Come, come and talk to me. How are you doing?"
So, just after 9 a.m. on a day last week begins the second part of the pediatrician's morning, working at the clinic that is the largest provider of pediatric services in Volusia County for children receiving health care through Medicaid, the state's insurance for low-income Floridians. This is her main job, but it's hard to find any cause in this area devoted to health care for needy people that doesn't involve Thorpe.
Earlier in the day, beginning at 7:30 a.m., Thorpe, 53, was working as medical director of the medical foster care program, sitting at a table with two of her comrades, Michelle Johnson, nursing supervisor, and Beth Legary, social worker. The two-year-old program manages the health-care needs of foster children with chronic debilitating diseases.
A body cast, anti-rejection heart transplant drugs and epilepsy are part of the conversation as they review each of the nine cases they are overseeing.
"The doctors think he's a good candidate for a pump" for delivering medicine, Thorpe said, talking about a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy whose hands are contracting in spite of oral medicine being given. "For that to be done, we'll need a court order."
Before Thorpe stepped forward with the local branch of Children's Medical Services to start the program, these foster children from Volusia and Flagler counties had to be sent to homes in the Jacksonville area to get the care they need while in the state's custody. That kind of situation was diminishing chances that these children would stay in touch with their parents.
"We are trying to keep the natural parents involved with the kid," Thorpe said, on the overall aim of the program. "I stepped forward because I had experienced some of the biological parents who had kids placed in foster care."
Thorpe is also on the board of the local Easter Seals chapter, and volunteers as its medical director. She's chairwoman of the Sickle Cell Foundation Board and on the board of Chiles Academy for teen parents at Atlantic High School.
She also helped get momentum going for the new pediatric dental clinic that's opening at the Volusia County Health Department this fall and serves on the committee for that. And she just got back three weeks ago from South America, her third weeklong medical mission trip organized by First United Methodist Church of Port Orange.
Lynn Sinnott, president of Easter Seals, said Thorpe's enthusiasm has been credited as one of the program's assets. And Dr. William Meek, director of outpatient services at Halifax Medical Center, said he's never known a physician more dedicated to the community as a whole and children in particular.
Thorpe, who is also president of the Rotary Club Daytona Beach West and a member of First Baptist Church of South Daytona, says the Rotary's motto is one that she takes for herself: "Service above self." Choosing to concentrate on children -- usually the lowest paying area for doctors -- wasn't something she had to ponder while a student at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.
"I think they chose me," she said. "They make it a lot more interesting. Kids are wonderful in their honesty and positive outlook on life. It's amazing how intelligent these kids are when they talk about how they are doing and what's going on."
". . . I think medicine is one of the only ways that you can still get close to a child without it being seen as inappropriate."
Back at the clinic, she's quizzing 7-year-old Kim, as she palpates her neck and stomach.
"When you go back to school, what grade are you going to be in?" Thorpe asks.
"I don't know," Kim says, grinning wickedly.
"You don't know!" Thorpe exclaims, tickling her stomach to gales of laughter. "Do you know your address?"
Kim recites it and Thorpe has another question. "When you go into a car, do you put your seat belt on?"
"Yes, every time," Kim says, nodding solemnly.
"Do you drink milk?" Thorpe asks.
Kim thinks for a minute. "Sometimes. I think I'll have a glass when I get home."
Thorpe tells her mother about a new dental clinic and then tells Kim she'll see her in a year.
"Awwwww," comes the reply.
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