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Keeping
His Hometown
Healthy 4
There are clocks in Dr Bob M
Paeglow's office, bur lie isn't watching them. Hf£|
He’s carefully examining a patient. Cong Nguy
en, 50, has had lesions on his back for at least
three years and they could be cancerous. '
Nguyan’s medical history isn’t clear, and his
English abilities are limited.
“Cong, do you have any allergies?” Paeglow
asks, speaking slowly, clearly.
“No,” replies Nguyan, who then pauses. “I don’t
know,” he says. “What it mean, allergies?"
Performing a biopsy is risky, but ignoring
the lesions could be even worse. Dr. Bob, as his
patients and others call him, makes a choice to
take a tissue sample of one of the lesions and send
it to the laboratory.
Paeglow, 53, is doing exactly what he felt he
was led to do in the late 1980 s, when he left his
career as a radiation technician at Albany Medical
Center Hospital and entered medical school. It’s
why he asked his wife, Leane, and their four chil
dren to move to one of the poorest neighborhoods
of Albany, N.Y., and help him open the Koinonia
Primary Health Care clinic in 2002.
The clinic serves patients regardless of their
ability to pay, and Dr. Bob, the only full-time
doctor on the staff of 10, works for free.
Paeglow remembers the exact moment he made
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Paeglow’s wife, Leane, checks out patient Tony Maddox.
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SELDIN
Dr. Bob Paeglow serves patients regardless of their ability to pay at his Koinonia health clinic in Albany, N.Y.
his life-changing decision. He was watching a TV
documentary about a single mom struggling to
raise her three kids on a low salary and no insur
ance. ‘I had this vision of myself as an old man,
lying in a nursing home, full of regret that the
world was no better because I
was here,” he says. “And that
shook me down to the core.”
Paeglow was inspired to
return to the Albany neighbor
hood of West Hill, where he
was raised, to set up his clinic,
borrowing money to purchase
a downtown building. Leane,
who works full-time at the
clinic as a nurse, is the neigh
borhood association president.
Both Paeglows see their clinic
work as part of an even bigger
project: to eventually open a community center
and attract industry and better jobs for the West
Hill residents, many of whom struggle to get by
on minimum wage and public assistance.
The doctor's work has drawn national attention.
He received the Association of American Medical
Colleges’ 2006 Humanism in Medicine Award,
which attracted donations. But staying afloat is
a struggle. Although he draws no salary, other
staffers have to be paid. He and his family live
a block away, in rent-free housing provided by a
local church. Paeglow’s part-time teaching job at
Albany Medical College also helps with expenses,
as does Leane’s part-time work for the Neighbor
hood Health Advocate Program.
“Bob Paeglow’s dedication to his patients has
been an inspiration to many students,” says Dr.
Vincent Verdile. dean of Albany Medical College.
“His passion for ensuring quality health care for
everyone, coupled with his gentle manner, are
Paeglow borrowed money to set up his
clinic in a downtown building.
ady, N.Y., first came to the clinic for a prenatal
checkup seven years ago. She’s been a patient
of Dr. Bob s ever since. “He’s very personable,”
Dowen says. “He spends time with us, goes over
every detail.”
If patients wish, he often ends their visit with
a prayer.
For Dr. Bob, it’s not just a job. It’s his mission.
"I was born with the ability to help people,” he
says. “If I don’t fulfill that destiny, my life will be
meaningless.”
Naomi Seldin is a writer in Albany. N.Y.
Click on this story at americanprofile.com
for more information.
qualities that make him an
outstanding role model and
mentor.”
Dr. Bob strives to inspire his
patients to believe in them
selves. “The way he goes about
practicing medicine is body
and soul," says Ike Onyedika,
24, a medical student at the
college who spent four weeks
interning at the clinic. “He
really does care about how
things are going in your life.”
Maria Dowen of Schenect-
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