Chuck E. Ped: Practice at the fun park

A North Carolina pediatrics group incorporates some of the lively trappings of a former miniature golf course and arcade.

By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. Dec. 22/29, 2003.

When it's time for new space, most physicians think professional office building. A group of North Carolina pediatricians, however, thought putt-putt.

Suburban Pediatric Clinic, a six-physician practice in Kannapolis, near Charlotte, recently opened its new office on the former site of a fun park and even incorporated some of the old attractions into the practice.

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Region: South

Instead of muted colors in the waiting room, there's miniature golf. Rather than fine art, the office has arcade games.

While it is true that most pediatric offices use colorful decorations to make them friendly for children, this office could also double as a weekend hangout. At a time when having an office outside a professional building strays from traditional thinking and operating in retail space is seen as downright bold, this practice doesn't just buck the trend. It literally throws it for a loop-the-loop.

"There's a huge interest in the community," said Joseph Stegman, MD, a pediatrician and medical director of the group. "I'm sure there was a lot of ribbing about the plan, but whatever people were saying behind our backs, they're not saying now."

The new office impressed kids, parents and other physicians alike as they toured it during an open house in November. The notable appreciation was the reward for a leap of faith taken by both the physicians who purchased the property and NorthEast Medical Center, the hospital based in nearby Concord, N.C., that owns the practice and gave the go-ahead for the move.

Physicians ponied up

What ultimately convinced hospital administrators to pursue the project was the physicians' willingness to involve their own money in the process.

The doctors, who are not hospital employees but provide contractual services to the practice, formed a limited liability company with other investors to purchase the property, which it now leases to the hospital. The purchase price for the fun park was about $1.2 million, but renovation costs pushed the investors' commitment to about $2 million.

The physician investment "certainly helped us to get more comfortable" with the project, said Frieda Lowder, vice president of the physician network at NorthEast Medical Center.

While the investment appears to be a sound one as the physicians look back, Dr. Stegman said they wouldn't have taken the risk several years ago, when the practice was still establishing itself.

But with a 15-year history, the clinic now has a reputation that allows it to take a chance, knowing that families will at least give the doctors the benefit of the doubt.

"You want to make sure you're successful at first," Dr. Stegman said. "No practice can afford to take that kind of risk until you have a patient base."

Most physicians wouldn't fathom ever taking such a risk for fear of losing respect from their peers and their patients, said Keith Hostetler, president of Hostetler Management Group, a consulting firm based in Marshallville, Ohio.

"I think there is a professional resistance to that," Hostetler said. "When other groups even see other doctors marketing their practices, they look down on that. They're very conservative."

Concerns about the professional appearance of Suburban Pediatric Clinic's new office were assuaged as the project took shape. The cement-brick building that was the staging point for activities at the old fun park was remodeled into a spacious office building, with each physician getting his or her own pod of three exam rooms. There also was room in the new building to house Dr. Stegman's new developmental and behavioral pediatrics practice.

In the spirit of traditional pediatrics practices, the clinic uses vibrant color schemes and bright decorations. The walls of each exam room are covered by murals depicting scenes such as scuba diving or a Cubs baseball game at Chicago's Wrigley Field, reflecting each doctor's background and tastes.

The clinic also maintained the location's roots, keeping the miniature golf course, video games and an 81,000-gallon fish pond, all of which were mainstays at the fun park, closed for more than a year before the practice started looking at it. Beyond keeping the fish pond, the practice is looking at embellishing it with remote-controlled boats.

But alas, in the interest of minimizing liability concerns, the clinic removed the Ferris wheel, batting cages and go-karts.

The go-kart track remains, though. "We plan to allow the community to use the track for things like police-sponsored bike rodeos," said Becky Hammett, RN, clinic administrator. "They can use it to teach skateboard and bike safety."

Innovative potential

There also are money-making possibilities for the clinic, should it choose to open the games to the public. Hammett said there are no plans to do that, though the idea has not been ruled out.

It may take some time to sell the powers-that-be on a side business, considering how long it took to convince them of the new location. Hammett said she was "laughed out of the room," when she first introduced the fun park idea to the physicians.

She persisted, however, and the more she discussed the advantages -- it would nearly double the size of the current clinic, there would be plenty of parking, it had a recognizable location -- the more opinions she changed, she said.

"By the end, they saw the value of it," Hammett said.

Patient appeal

Selling the hospital on the idea was another challenge, especially since most of the practices it owns share a certain professional uniformity. The idea of using the games and activities to make a young patient more comfortable at the doctor's office was intriguing, though.

"What sold us is this facility can get to the heart of a child," the hospital's Lowder said. "It will make it easier to make a connection to the inner child."

The games have a practical application as well, as the doctors quickly discovered.

"I had an opportunity with a young man who was getting a flu shot," Dr. Stegman said. "He was all worried and didn't want the shot, but when I offered him a token for a video game, the arm just came right up and he got the shot."