May 17, 2012Dr. Bert Rappole Retires
Mayor Sam Teresi congratulates Dr. Bert Rappole on his career and well-deserved retirement. The mayor presented Rappole with the Key to the City to commemorate his service to the residents of the City of Jamestown.
Goodbye to a Good Doctor
by Dave Emke
Courtesy The Post Journal
It is difficult to imagine healthcare in the Jamestown community without Dr. Bert Rappole.
At the end of the month, though, that will be exactly the case, as Rappole retires after 37 years serving Jamestown. Colleagues, associates, friends and family of Rappole attended a reception Thursday at Jamestown Area Medical Associates to honor the well-respected doctor and his many years of hard work and dedication.
More than a talented physician, however, Rappole will be remembered both for the care he took with each patient and for his desire to improve the medical field throughout the entire city.
''Bert always had the community in mind as well as the patients,'' said Dr. Lillian Vitanza Ney, a longtime colleague of Rappole. ''He always saw the big medical picture, as well as his own patient laying right in front of him - and he was always so kind and compassionate to his patients.''
In fact, the location of the reception itself was one that might not exist in the city if not for Rappole's dedication to the community, as he was a catalyst in the formation of JAMA - a multispecialty medical group - in Jamestown in 1997.
Kevin Saff, executive director of JAMA, called Rappole ''the epitome of a physician in Jamestown.'' As the first doctor to retire from the multispecialty group, Rappole will take with him a large amount of leadership and expertise - and Saff said the doctors who remain will have large shoes to fill.
''Bert has three partners who work alongside him - Tim Brown, Dan Glotzer and Matt Chang - so they're going to have to 'pick up the slack,' so to speak,'' Saff said. ''We'll greatly miss him, but I think the community will miss him more.''
Rappole said he was honored to have spent so long serving the community in which he grew up. The fact that he was honored at Thursday's ceremony, which included a proclamation of Dr. Bert Rappole Day in the City of Jamestown by Mayor Sam Teresi as well as a presentation of a key to the city, was even more humbling to him.
''It's a great honor to be honored by the people of Jamestown, and it's been my pleasure and honor to provide care for them and to take care of them,'' Rappole said. ''I love being a physician - I really think being a physician is a great profession.''
Rappole said the formation of JAMA was done in an effort to stabilize the medical community in Jamestown, as a way to bring more talented doctors to the city. The fact that it has succeeded so much in the 13 years since it was founded has been a great asset to the city, he said.
''We've had so many people that we've recruited into the community - many people who probably wouldn't be here if there wasn't a medical group that they could be a part of and get a paycheck one week after they start,'' Rappole said. ''When a doctor comes out of training, they don't want to come in and start up a private practice like I did.''
Beginning as a private-practice physician in 1973, Rappole was part of a formation of a surgical group in Jamestown one year later. His wife, Mary, said that she always knew her husband would remain in his hometown and have a positive impact there as his lifework. She said that in his retirement, he will have plenty of time to both spend with family and to continue his work improving lives both locally and in Haiti - a nation the Rappoles have visited 10 times in the past 10 years on surgical missions.
''He's 70 years old, and he's retiring when he's really healthy,'' Mrs. Rappole said. ''The biggest challenge for Bert and I will be that we really don't know how to play very well. ... We need to learn how to take an afternoon off and go out on the boat or take up some other things.''
Rappole said that he and his wife will be able to spend more time with their five children and nine grandchildren, and that he will be able to focus more attention on their bed and breakfast near Chautauqua Institution. However, he said, a piece of his heart will always be in helping healthcare in Jamestown be the best it can be.
''I need to step back and let my partners be the surgeons,'' Rappole said. ''But if I can help the hospital in any way and do something, I'd love to do it.''