This story appeared in the Thursday, June 15, 2017, issue of The News Examiner-Enterprise.
For fifty-one years patients from Vacherie and the surrounding area have relied on one man for their medical care. Dr. Roland Waguespack’s modest but beautiful practice sits on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, nestled in the historic St. Phillip community, and provides a reliable alternative to the large, bureaucratic hospitals and multi-doctor clinics that grapple the medical profession today. His unique brand of small-town charm and his patience to know each patient individually set him apart. The fact that he cherishes the vital doctor-patient relationship has kept him a staple of Vacherie medicine for generations.
After he grew up in North Vacherie, Dr. Waguespack graduated from St. James High School in 1958. He decided on his career based upon the fond memories he shared with his doctor grandfather and the local physician, Dr. Vignes, who invited Waguespack to practice with him.
Also, he wanted to work in a field different from those of his family members. (His father was a farmer, brothers an engineer and a school- teacher.) So, he started out at the then-new Nicholls State University, studying there for two years before transferring to the more established Louisiana State University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in medicine. He then moved onto LSU Medical School to finalize his schooling, before interning at the charity hospital in Baton Rouge for a year. Nearly nine years out from high school graduation, Dr. Waguespack moved back to Vacherie to begin serving the people of his community.
An understanding of a much simpler time causes Dr. Waguespack to appreciate the evolution of Vacherie throughout his career. During a tougher era in this place’s history, without indoor plumbing, the townspeople manually gathered their water from a well for usage in homes and yards. The lack of sanitation allowed diseases like tuberculosis to run rampant.
Dr. Campbell, the local physician then, was left aimless without the aid of modern medical practices or help from other doctors. However, thanks to more sanitary facilities and safer drinking water, people now lead much healthier lives. Dr. Waguespack marvels at the fact that such a seemingly simple change of life can affect a whole community positively.
Dr. Waguespack says that the main goal and pleasure of his career is to “ease a person’s suffering.” It brings him such joy to relieve the ailments of those who he cares so adamantly about.
Also, he relishes in the privilege of forming relationships with extend- ed families of regular patients and serving different generations of the same kin, some three or four generations apart. He knows, though, that as with any career, there will be a downside. He describes his as, “Conditions that I’m unable to resolve.
Also, some people have character issues that I can’t solve.” That comes with knowing one’s patients so well. When Dr. Waguespack learns each individual’s personality, he also observes their character flaws that may also cause issues in their non-medical life. But he jokes that he doesn’t work in that department.
Before the complication of and government involvement in the medical field became overbearing, it worked just like any other business. Patients came in, received care, and paid their bills out-of-pocket for much lower rates than today. Now, though, insurance companies and government programs make things harder and more expensive than ever before.
Few people pay upfront anymore. Referring patients to other doctors has become an arduous task, especially with the closing of the charity hospital in New Orleans, where most of Dr. Waguespack’s patients followed up their appointments. Because of clerical work, owning a private practice costs much more money and requires more effort to maintain.
In fact, Waguespack says, “It is almost unheard of to have individual clinics now. Most new doctors go to hospitals and multi-doctor clinics, because of government regulations.” The family doctor is disappearing and soon, families will be unable to visit the same doctor for check-ups and regular appointments. This means that, in the future, Vacherie will no longer enjoy the presence of a local doctor.
In most cases, doctors have lost their freedom of choice. The government decides how doctors can treat their patients. Regulations impede on their free-thinking. For example, Dr. Waguespack points out the difficulty of practicing medicine as a Catholic, with abortion and end-of-life decisions.
Since he owns his own practice, he possesses more freedom on how to deal with these issues. He points out, though, that clinics or hospitals that receive government funding, even those with a religious background, must follow the government protocols on these issues.
These moral problems have forced the closure of important religious charity hospitals in the area; the government wanted these places, in many cases run by nuns, to encourage euthanasia and abortion. In the future, Waguespack fears, the government will tell doctors like him, who own their own practices, to do what the government says or risk losing their licenses.
Dr. Waguespack also fears the de-personalization of the medical profession. He believes that the super-specialization in medicine, meaning doctors who learn to treat only one thing or study in one area, will cause the regular or general doctors who treat a wider variety of issues to disappear.
Furthermore, he thinks that although great for medicine as a whole, new advancements make diagnoses easier but less personalized. Some doctors hardly look at the patient, which in turn results in a lack of care.
Waguespack, on the other hand, lives by his relationships with his patients. He wants to gain and maintain his patients’ trust, which he reasons can help the healing process. The patients feel much more comfortable seeing a doctor they know, whereas, in a larger clinic, they have no idea who they will see.
For various reasons, Dr. Waguespack thoroughly enjoys practicing locally in Vacherie in a smaller setting. He knows the benefits it affords him, which is why he continues to see patients every day, even after so many years.
He may be the last family doctor in the area, part of a dying breed. No one cares as much for his people like him. All these years, as medicine has changed, one thing remained constant: along LA Highway 18 in North Vacherie, on the river, Dr. Roland Waguespack goes about his clinic, ensuring the health of the town in which he resides.