New local doctor came late in life to medical field

For Dr. Mark Fowler, who has recently opened a new OB/GYN practice in Blytheville, being a part of bringing new life into the world is a calling.

Fowler came late into the medical profession; he completed his residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda in 2000, near the end of his 29-year career with the United States Navy, and said while it took him longer to find his dream career, there's nothing else he'd rather be doing.

"I love delivering babies," he said. "It's a different lifestyle -- you have to be able to get up at any time of the day or night and be competent right away. But to get to share with patients on the best day of their lives is something so special. I look at each of them and think, 'This kid could be the president someday, or anything' -- it's really something to witness the beginning of a life."

In an earlier part of his Navy career, Fowler and his wife lost a late-term pregnancy, and this experience spurred him to leave the jobs he'd held after training in nuclear power and pursue a position in military medical school.

"When we were going through this incredibly difficult time, it struck me that at every step, the doctors and nurses treated us like this was just another run-of-the-mill medical thing. They totally ignored the human factor. And as I was driving my wife home, it came to me so clearly -- you can do what these doctors do," he said.

After his residency, Fowler worked all over the country and the world, and came to Blytheville from a position at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. The switch to a small Delta community has been an interesting one, but he said that he and his wife have found Blytheville to be the most welcoming place they've ever been, and that he looks forward to taking on some of the challenges faced by the medical profession in the area.

"I've always wanted to practice in a community that needed a good doctor," he said. "Many places I've been, doctors were a dime a dozen, and here that is definitely not the case. And I want to be a part of turning things around for the hospital system here -- to be a part of the process they are going through to give the community good reason to have faith in this medical care. I want to be part of bringing some of the local business that's left the county to seek medical care elsewhere back home."

New patients are still being welcomed at Fowler's clinic, which is located in the East Medical Plaza near 10th and Highland Streets on the campus of Great River Medical Center.

"I want to do good OB/GYN work," he said, "deliver babies and help women with problems -- I have the latest treatments for everything from infertility to contraception, and I think that ladies looking for good OB/GYN care should come to our office."

His clinic is currently open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and can be reached at 870-838-7277.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com