MEET THE DOC: Dr. Niral Patel

From primary care and pediatrics to chiropractics and after-hours care, Windermere Medical Center is summed up in one word: access.

“I felt like there was a need in this community with healthcare changing,” says Niral Patel, who opened the center in March 2014. “With people feeling like they’re having to go to different facilities, different specialists, it just felt like the patient was the one being piece-mealed to death.”

Patel, who grew up in Kenya with his Indian family, achieved his parents’ goal of having their children educated in the United States. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and then went to Ross University for medical school. 

When Patel and his wife, who is also a physician, moved to Florida, he started working at Florida Hospital. He was there for one year before he felt that it was time for a change.

“We had everything, but there was something still missing, and that thing missing was, ‘You know what? We can do more. We can impact more,’” Patel says. “So I walked away from my job.

“Me and my wife, we basically invested every single thing that we had behind (Windermere Medical Center),” he says. “It’s very difficult for someone to end up not making money for four years, give up everything they had when they had it so good. But that’s showing you the motivation of why I did this.”

Patel was not able to transfer patients from a previous office. He had to build his patient loyalty from scratch. But even before the first patients showed up, he had two goals: to coordinate their care and to help them save money.

Windermere Medical Center is one facility that offers many services. In addition to Patel, there are staff physicians for internal medicine, pediatrics, chiropractics, a walk-in clinic and occupational health. Patients can also go to Windermere Medical Center for X-rays, ultrasounds and IV fluid hydration, and the list of available services is always growing.

By offering so many services at one independent facility, Patel helps patients save money because hospital fees are eliminated.

“The whole goal was, we don’t want the patient to end up paying more money in the ER when we could have taken care of that here,” he says.

Another way Patel hopes to create a unique experience for is patients is by truly getting to know them. He doesn’t want them to walk away feeling like just a number. 

“The relationship in this practice with the patients is entirely different than someone going to a practice somewhere else where they may not know the name of the doctor, or the name of the X-ray tech or the front desk person,” he says.

When Patel sits to talk with a patient, there is also a scribe in the room so the patient can have a real conversation with Patel — unlike some practices, where the doctor is too preoccupied with typing on a computer to focus on connecting with the patient.

“It’s really sad medicine has gone that way,” he says. “I don’t fault the fact that doctors are having to do that … but I have taken that extra step to say I’m not going to do that. One thing I hear back is, ‘When you go to him, he listens.’”

Patel has been working 12-hour days on weekdays and all day on Saturdays since Windermere Medical Center opened. But when he gets a chance to take a rare break, he enjoys golfing and watching football with his son.

He currently is accepting new patients and plans to continue expanding his staff to accommodate the growing community. 

“No one can question my motivation of giving up what I’ve given up,” Patel says. “We’re impacting people’s lives now, and we’re being that community doctor that people grew up wanting … I feel like the community needs it.”

For more information, visit windermeremedicalcenter.com.