Dr. Dan's Last Word on Babies and Other Humans

1ST FLAP COPY


Several years ago, while I was rounding at one of
the Brigham and Women's Hospital nurseries, a
new father shared a funny story with me.

Early the previous morning, this new father went to
the hospital lobby in search of coffee and bagels.
While waiting in line at the coffee shop, the father
noticed a man enter the lobby. He was struck by
the odd appearance of this man. In the midst of a
brutally cold New England winter, this man was
dressed in a bicycle racing shirt, shorts, ski socks
pulled up to his knobby knees, ankle weights, a hos-
pital ID badge around his neck, and a propeller att-
ached to the top of his bicycle helmet.

When he returned to his wife's hospital room, he
told her about his experience. This new dad worked
in the human services field and was very impressed
that the hospital was so progressive as to hire such
an obviously mentally challenged person.

About ten minutes passed when the new parents
heard a loud knock on the hospital room door. To
their surprise, shock, astonishment and horror, the
same man walked into the room?complete with the
propeller helmet, shorts, ski socks, ankle weights.
Now the man had a stethoscope around his neck
and was pushing a portable crib with their new baby!
Greeting the shocked and befuddled new parents,
the man proudly announced his arrival. "Hi, I'm Dr.
Heller. I'm your pediatrician and am here to exam-
ine your baby."

Dr. Dan was, without a doubt, the most unique,
charismatic and outgoing individual who one will
ever meet. As one mother remarked to me, 'You
will always remember the first time you met Dr. Dan."

Bruce Bunnell, MD, Dr. Heller's partner of 15 years
at Centre Pediatrics, told this story at a memorial
sevice for Dr. Heller in 2005.


2nd FLAP:

"Having Dr. Heller for a doctor was like having
Mary Poppins for a nanny." -Parent, Sara B.

"Dr. Dan was an original-that's the only way I
know how to put it. He is such a huge part of our
family history that memories keep flooding in. For
example, when our daughter finally slept through
the night after months of disturbing our sleep, my
husband and I were not only shocked: as new
parents, we were also worried that her brand new
sleep pattern might signal a serious medical problem.
Dr. Dan was on when I called, and I will never
forget how he questioned me closely about symp-
toms and listened very carefully to all I said. Then,
as I hung on to every word of diagnosis he could
provide for me, he slowly explained, 'That, Mrs. L,
is what we in the medical profession refer to as
...a blessing!'" -Parent, Susan L.