HEALTH

Brevard pediatrician began 'practicing' at age 6

Be George White
For FLORIDA TODAY

Pediatrician Kim Dozier was about 6 when she starting "practicing" medicine on her stuffed animals and dreaming of one day being a doctor.

"Maybe it started when my parents made told me: 'You can be anything you want to be, (whether a ) doctor, lawyer or first female president,' " she said. "I would do things like play doctor with my stuffed animals. I did surgery on my stuffed animals and my mom would get upset. I had a Teddy Ruxpin (bear) that had holes in him, and I pretended to fix him up.''

To make that childhood dream become real took 11 years of college and medical training.

QUESTION: How important is communication in pediatrics?

Dozier: It's so very important. We are trained that an infant can't speak, but there are signs and symptoms that you look for, and you have the parents there that know their child. They can give you information on how the child usually is and how things have changed. We use that information to figure out what's going on.

As they get older, it is definitely important to have that communication with the adolescent. The main thing is to explain what I'm doing and what I'm looking for.

Q: Do you always have the parents present when talking to teens?

Dozier: It is recommended that we have our time alone without the parents, and that's really for the health of the teen. Sometimes, teens will make certain decisions that put their health at risk and they're not necessarily ready to tell their parents. Having the parents step out doesn't mean we're saying it's OK not to tell their parents. What we usually do is explain to them why I had the parents step out: That they are going to be older soon and eventually you'll be going to the doctor by yourself and you have to be able to speak to the physician.

The other thing is that if there's anything they are concerned about. But, I explain — before I go further — although it's confidential, if there's harm, we do have to get the parents involved. I tell them the best person to go to is your parent, because they've gone through every year that you've gone through.

Q: What was it like working at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children?

Dozier: The good thing about having had my residency at Arnold Palmer is I saw quite a few different things and people from all walks of life. It's not just the people living in that area. You have Disney right there, so you have people from all over who come there and end up having to come to the hospital.

Being in residency there, there are so many specialties around that you are exposed to and learn from them, if you are following a patient with them.

Q: How different are the medical concerns for the children of the urban poor?

Dozier: Being at Arnold Palmer, one part of my residency was at the health department off Orange Blossom Trail, and we did our outpatient visits there. I saw quite a few patients who were either self-pay or Medicaid. I did have followup and the patients were responsible. Sometimes, you do have to consider the cost. We're fortunate that sometimes the medications are free. Sometimes, you have to figure things out. There are resources out there. Transportation is really the biggest problem.

Q: Were reluctance and concern toward vaccinations covered in medical school?

Dozier:I have had quite a few questions about that during residency. We are trained about and talk about the (Lancet) study being found to be inaccurate. There are a lot of infections in the world that we don't see now because of vaccines.

Sometimes, we have to look at the grand scheme of things. The intent is to prevent the children from being ill to the point where you can actually die from some of these things or their lives will be changed for the worse. All we can do is educate.

Q: What is the favorite part of your job?

Dozier: I think there's a lot of different things. There are times where I am finally getting the chance — now that I'm done with residency —I'm starting to see my newborns growing. I think that's awesome.

Q: What do you think will be difficult?

Dozier: We actually were educated on giving bad news, and I've had to do it a couple of times, where you have to tell a parent that they need to take their child to a specialist.

Kim Dozier, 31, pediatrician

Hometown: Hopkinsville, Kentucky; raised in Miami

City of residence: Viera

Hobbies: Reading, cooking, travel

Education: Bachelor's degree in biology, Florida International University, Miami; Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C.; residency in pediatrics, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando

Contact: Pediatrics In Brevard, 134 S. Woods Dr., Rockledge; 321-636-3066