Centegra, Sun City Residents Try 'Speed Dating'

With three-minute visits per station, friendly faces abounding and a willingness to meet someone new, the event had all the characteristics of speed dating. The fashionable matchmaking format in which singles rotate from table to table and participate in brief get-to-know-you chats aims to help folks not only find a mate, but preferably one with whom they’ll someday exchange wedding vows.

However, in a twist of the “in sickness and in health” idea, participants were encouraged to inquire about preventing sickness and maintaining their health from potential matches willing to provide it.

The result was an informative affair as Sun City residents gathered at Meadow View Lodge on Tuesday to participate in Centegra Health System’s first-ever speed-dating event.

Conducted in two separate 30-minute sessions, the free event introduced residents to a handful of Centegra primary care doctors and nurse practitioners without the intimidation or formality of an office visit.

“With primary care, it’s so much about the relationship between the doctor and patient, and this was an easy way to provide patients with an opportunity to meet a wide range of doctors, all in one setting, and quickly,” said Leanne Whiting, marketing manager for Centegra Health System. She added that Centegra got the idea for a speed-dating event at a recent industry conference.

For Sun City resident Barb Miller, who drives from Huntley to Barrington to see her regular internist, the event was particularly helpful as she contemplates switching to a health-care provider who is closer to home.

“It’s fine now, but there may come a time when I don’t want to,” said Miller of her travel.

On hand to meet Miller and others were five doctors and three nurse practitioners whose individual approaches and areas of interest were as varied as their backgrounds. Among the specialties of the participating Centegra staff were geriatric medicine, internal medicine, and chiropractic with training provided by the University of Tennessee at Memphis, the University of Nigeria College of Medicine, the American University of the Caribbean, and Logan College of Chiropractic, among others.

Each professional’s name, office location, specialty, and background were printed on a handout that included space on the back for participants to take notes. Next to that was a list of six “key” questions for residents to ask, such as:

• What is your philosophy of care?
• What sets you and your practice apart from others?
• What are your interests and/or hobbies?”

Initially, some residents referred to the questions before settling into the spirit of the event and its rotation, a shift the Centegra staff seemed to experience as well.

“Any new event like this, you’re going to have a few butterflies. But as doctors we know patients and we know how to talk to patients, so after a while we become ourselves,” said Dr. Marcel Hoffman, an internist who received his medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and completed his residency at Hines VA Hospital and Loyola University.

As for the possibility of future speed-dating events and expanding beyond Sun City, Whiting said it’s in the works.

“At this point we don’t have dates set, but it is in the plans,” she said.