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If you happen to be at Waterford on South Hill, don't be surprised to see a man with a stethoscope around his neck and an old black doctor's bag in his hand.
It's probably Dr. Bob Hustrulid, making an in-house house call.
The 56-year-old Hustrulid, who has worked at the Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center for the past three years, decided to return to private practice-and has hung out his shingle at the Waterford on South Hill retirement center.
The doctor likens his new practice to that of an old family physician's practice.
"The way medicine has gone--from my way of thinking--is we've turned to doing a lot of procedures on people. We shuffle them from one procedure to the next, and we don't take the time to talk to them anymore and find out what's really bothering them," Hustrulid says. "I hope to have some tighter control over my overhead costs, so I don't have to rush people through here."
Hustrulid, who is called Dr. Bob by his patients, says he always has enjoyed taking care of elderly patients. So, what could be better than setting up an independent practice in a retirement facility where there's access to more than 300 residents?
"It sure seems like a great idea, but I guess we'll have to see how it goes," Hustrulid says. He remains only cautiously optimistic about whether he'll succeed because he hasn't been able to find another doctor who currently is operating a practice in a retirement facility.
"I'm really starting from scratch. I just don't know what to expect," he says.
This won't be Hustrulid's first experience with a private...