Taking Care It’s Not A Glamorous Medical Speciality, But Dr. Bruce Dentler Is Devoting Himself To Caring For Residents Of Nursing Homes

Willy Briggeman’s 86-year-old knees are stiff as old fence posts and his lungs are full of pneumonia.

But his standards are as tough as his cattle rancher’s hands, and he recognizes Dr. Bruce Dentler’s four-star treatment the way he used to spot a prize bull.

“Thanks, Doc,” said Briggeman. “You treat me kindly.”

Dentler is becoming the pope of the North Side nursing homes, bringing the blessings of quality medical care and compassion to the aging.

He shut down his private practice last spring to become the only doctor in the area who specializes in nursing home residents.

Few physicians would take on a low-income, nursing home patient like Briggeman, nursing home officials say.

And in an industry where most nursing home residents see a doctor for five minutes every other month, Dentler drops by weekly. Where others sign prescriptions, Dentler listens like a priest.

“I think it’s wonderful what he’s doing,” said Vicki McKenna, director of Royal Park Care Center, one of the four North Side nursing homes Dentler regularly visits.

“He’s kind of the tip of the iceberg. There’s going to be more physicians that follow in his footsteps. I think he’s a pioneer for the very near future.”

Tall and serious, Dentler says he is trying to put more compassion into the medical marketplace.

“The problems in society are huge, but each person has a responsibility, not to solve society’s problems, but to do what you can,” said Dentler.

Dentler’s empathy isn’t newfound. Years ago, he and his wife adopted a Korean boy with tuberculosis and an Indian girl with polio. And last July, Dentler paid his own way to Kenya, where he treated bushmen for free.

But social activism still affords a Lexus and the tuition bills of his four college-age children. Dentler says he makes more now than he did in family practice, mostly because he treats more patients.

Economics, however, make Dentler a rarity. Nursing home visits for physicians - even geriatric doctors - are time-consuming and hardly lucrative. And Medicaid does not cover most doctor’s fees.

The work is not glamorous. Dentler reminds patients to take their food in small bites and checks for bed sores.

“I not only feel a sense of professional satisfaction, I feel like I’m filling a need,” said Dentler.

But more doctors like Dentler are desperately needed as Baby Boomers age, say nursing home officials.

“We get complaints that nursing homes can’t get (physicians) to go in,” said Linda Miel, Eastern Washington nursing home ombudsman.

Dentler understands why most doctors stay away. “When I was younger, I thought it sounded dark and dreary and sorrowful,” he said.

But as the patients in his family practice aged, Dentler enjoyed them more and more. “Great stories,” he said.

So last spring, he reduced his staff from 22 to two and moved into a small North Division office. He arranged to be medical director - the paid doctor-on-call - at Royal Park, Regency, Beverly and Hawthorne Manor nursing homes.

He quickly picked up the 300 patients in the four nursing homes who had no primary physician.

And then the stories began. Among his patients are a former rodeo clown, a madame and a Yugoslavian physician.

One day last week, he stroked the hair of a bedridden, 60-year-old alcoholic and laughed as an 86-year-old woman named Bea tried to talk him out of a treatment.

“I’ve even had old ladies pinch my bottom and say, ‘how could I resist’,” said Dentler, 48. “How could you not like that?”

The nurses also appreciate him. “He kinda takes the pressure off us,” said Royal Park nurse Bob Beard.

“I’ve been in the business for 15 years, and I’ve never seen a doctor pay this much attention to the patients,” said Robert Washbond, director of Regency Care Center.

Dentler’s attitude during the summer Kenya trip impressed John Yoder, a Whitworth College African studies professor who accompanied him. “I came away thinking here is a really quality-type person,” said Yoder.

Dentler shrugs off accolades from friends and from the medical community, saying he is just trying to treat others as he would want to be treated.

“Maybe if I’m 89 and need good care, someone will take care of me well as a result of what I’m doing now,” said Dentler.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 Color)