atients
fill the waiting room of Gary LeRoy, M.D, their faces tattooed with poverty
and pain. They wait for something they have seldom known in their lives
- caring. The predominately white Appalachian community, where LeRoy practices
medicine, is one of the most medically underserved in the Miami Valley.
For LeRoy, who is the medical director of the East Dayton Health Center,
it was only logical for him to open his office where he felt "they
needed me the most."
Because of his commitment and compassion, LeRoy was selected as one of "The 50 Most Positive Doctors in America" by the Positive Medicine project, a national initiative based in Philadelphia. The project was created to exemplify humanistic, patient-centered medical care to future generations of medical students.
LeRoy, who is African American and has been tearing down stereotypes since his graduation in 1988 from Wright State University's School of Medicine, calls it "crossing the bridge."
"It was an unspoken law that if you were African American, you stayed on the west side," said LeRoy. "I was told never to go on the east side of Dayton. I couldn't live with that. There are poor people on this side of town and that side of town, and my challenge is to bridge that gap and dispel those rumors that cross the river."
His journey "across the river" almost didn't occur. Coming from a poor, single parent family, LeRoy never considered college as an option. Instead, he hoped to find a job on an assembly line after graduation from Colonel White High School. But, one of his many "angels," as LeRoy calls them, had other plans for him. Mr. Smith, his guidance counselor, encouraged him to apply to Wright State University and study medical technology. In 1974, Gary LeRoy became the first member of his family to attend college.
"I didn't think I could do it, but people like my high school teacher, David Leedy, believed I could make it and encouraged me to reach higher," said LeRoy.
During
a medical technology residency, others saw LeRoy's potential and urged
him to apply to medical school. Two years later, with the support of Dr.
Prem Batra of WSU's department of biochemistry and Dr. Junius E. Cromartie
Jr., LeRoy applied to five medical schools and was accepted at all of them.
He decided to attend Wright State's newly built School of Medicine "because
I wanted to give something back to the community that had given me so much."
And give he has. In addition to his work with the health center, LeRoy is an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at Wright State. He also is a volunteer physician with the Drew Health Center's Reach Out program; serves as a faculty member with the Miami Valley Hospital residency program; gives physicals to Dayton Public Schools students through the School Health Check program; participates in the National Youth Sports Program for inner-city children; and provides physicals every summer for 600 inner-city children. He is also an active supporter in the life of Wright State: he participates in the Science Apprenticeship Program and Horizons in Medicine, WSU programs that mentor junior and senior high school students to enter health care or science-related fields.
Being an African American physician serving white Appalachian patients has not been easy. "At first, they didn't feel comfortable with a black man taking care of them," said LeRoy. "But patience is like little drops of water that gradually wear away the stones of misconception. Now, I have patients that will tell family members, ŒYou go see Dr. LeRoy. I won't see anyone else.'"