TWO DOCTORS WHO LOVE THEIR WORK
Evan Harawitz, M.D. '04 and Alan Harawitz, M.D. '77
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Evan Harawitz, M.D. '04 and father Alan Harawitz, M.D. '77 |
Scenarios like these speak volumes about affection and respect: the affection both doctors bring to their work and the respect their patients have for them. And yet, what says the most is Evan Harawitz following in his dad's footsteps. Evan says it wasn't so much having a physician for a dad as seeing how much Dr. Harawitz loved going to work that prompted his desire to I'd go with him to see patients at night, even though he'd gotten called in from home, he was always happy to see whoever was there," Evan says. Now in his first year of residency at Westchester Medical Center, Evan already delights in his work. "I always get a better feeling when I walk into a room with a kid there, even it it's a sick kid," he says. "You can always get a kid to smile."
Well, he doesnt mean that literally. But when he can't soothe a crying child on his own, he draws on lessons his father taught him. "My dad showed me what it was like to be in private practice, how to deal with a crying kid and how to deal with parents." Parents?
"I told him that the most important thing in medicine is to listen to what parents say," the elder Dr. Harawitz says. "You're with the child for 10 minutes doing an examination. They're with the child all the time. You've got to listen to people. History is 90 percent of medicine."
That's sound advice from a physician who's relished his work for nearly 30 years. Sure, Dr. Harawitz has his complaints. "You used to deal with patients exclusively," he says. "Now you deal with patients through insurance companies and other providers."
Dr. Harawitz has tried to warn Evan that practicing medicine will be different when he completes residency than it was as little as 25 years ago. He has tried to explain to his son that practicing medicine is much more of a business than it ever was. But Evan isn't worried. "There are always going to be sick kids out there, and I'll always have a secure job in that respect," he says. Besides, he adds, "I never knew what it used to be like. This is all I'm ever going to know."
To be sure, practicing pediatric medicine is the only thing Alan Harawitz ever wanted to do. "I wouldn't have been happy doing anything else," he says. "I wouldn't have been good at anything else." He certainly wouldn't have had the opportunity to treat a second generation of patients. "Wherever he goes people with their kids remember him," Evan says. "It's amazing how much everybody adores him."
Such a legacy could intimidate some doctors' sons, but it inspires Evan, who is looking forward to joining his father's group practice when he completes his training. "When I go to his office people say, ‘you have a lot to live up to,'" he says. "It's great they think of my dad that way."