Tue Feb 09 2010
by Ellin Walsh
Reporter
Cuyahoga Falls -- No bandage could cover the disappointment for his patients when local pediatrician Dr. Jeffrey S. Kline, 59, recently retired after 30 years.
Kline's last day in the office was Oct. 31. Pediatrics of Akron acquired Kline's practice, effective Nov. 1; the group includes six Board-certified pediatricians and two certified pediatric nurse practitioners. Dr. Martin A. Cochran, 34, of Tallmadge is now the primary physician in Kline's former office, 1754 Portage Trail. As a resident, Cochran devoted one day a week for three years in Kline's office.
"Marty is by far the best resident we ever had," according to Kline. "I have no question I'm leaving my patients in the best hands."
Kline, a Hudson resident, started his practice with no appointments on the books. He's leaving behind thousands of patients and their parents who have come to trust him. He figures he's seen at least 10,000 patients since opening his doors in a suite in the familiar round office building on Portage Trail, and then moving his practice across the street.
Twelve-hour days with no lunches were common in the early days, Kline says, since he believes a sick child should be seen the same day a parent calls.
"Being on call 24/7 is something I'm not going to miss," Kline admits, adding, "There were a lot of late dinners, nights I missed dinner entirely, and a lot of lost sleep. But I didn't want a sick child to wait. You can't diagnose over the phone."
Being in solo practice pediatric practice is rare these days. Kline's is a familiar face at Akron Children's Hospital.
Kline says both he and Cochran practice similar brands of academic medicine. Kline is a graduate of Suny at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He and his wife, Mary, have three children, who are 30, 26 and 24. Cochran grew up in Tallmadge and graduated from the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine. He and his wife also have three children, a 6-, 8- and 10-year-old.
During Kline's career, there have been both happy and heart-breaking moments. He remembers particularly a newborn, diagnosed with a mass in his heart, who did not survive surgery; today such conditions may be diagnosed in utero, Kline says, with a positive outcome possible. It is such strides in medicine which make being a doctor fulfilling, Kline says.
"I didn't want to specialize, limiting myself to doing one particular thing in pediatrics," Kline says. "I wanted to take care of kids from birth through 21, from newborn until they graduated high school and went to college."
Children who came to Kline in the early days of his practice were often sick with diseases rarely seen today, like complications from chicken pox, meningitis and epiglottitis.
"The biggest impact on practicing medicine [during my career] has been the advent of all the newer vaccines," Kline says. "Back in the late '70s we weren't vaccinating for Haemophilus influenza type B, which caused a lot of meningitis and epiglottitis. We don't see pneumococcal meningitis very often any more and pneumococcal pneumonia is less common. A lot of diseases have gone by the wayside. Vaccines have changed medicine and my practice."
Kline says the best advice he ever received was to "Listen to the parents of your patients," -- something he encourages his successor to do, too.
"A lot of kids that I took care of as newborns -- I'm taking care of their kids now," Kline says. "That's a gift of trust you can't put a value on -- to have someone place their child in your hands."
Kline is poised to move to Florida from Hudson and to trade his stethoscope for golf clubs and a fairer climate.
"I'm in good heath and I want to enjoy it," Kline says. "When I started [my pediatrics practice], I was 29 and a lot of my [patients'] parents were older than me. But I'm older than most of my parents now."
"No one's going to replace Dr. Kline -- that's impossible," Cochran says, "but while it will be a different face, we hope to try and provide the same quality care patients have been accustomed to."
E-mail: ewalsh@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3908
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