Army doctor switching to civilian career
FORT DRUM — After 26 years as an Army doctor, Col. Christopher P. Black has decided to take a swing at civilian practice.
Col. Black came to Fort Drum 19 years ago, when his eldest son, Kirby, was only 18 months old. Now, Kirby is off to college at Cornell University, Ithaca, to study premedicine and Col. Black and his wife, Leslie, have raised three other children, Dillon, 17, Griffith, 14, and Sidney, 12, in Evans Mills.
And he's not ready to leave. When Col. Black retires Sept. 30, he will take a full-time position at the Complete Family Care and Laser Center, 18983 Route 11, as a family care practitioner. He also will continue to work part time at the emergency room at Lewis County General Hospital, Lowville.
"The medicine is not that dissimilar. People will be the same, and I've been working out in the community the whole time," he said in his office on Fort Drum, where he is the chief of ancillary services overseeing the radiology, laboratory and pharmacy departments on post. "For me, I won't be connected with the Army any more and I'll have to go into my closet every morning and pick out clothes to wear. My routine and connection is changing."
Col. Black has rotated in and out of several emergency rooms in the north country since 1990, including Watertown's Samaritan Medical Center when it was the House of Good Samaritan, Edward John Noble Hospital, now River Hospital, Alexandria Bay, Carthage Area Hospital and Lewis County General Hospital. He has been working a few days a week at Complete Family Care and Laser Center for the past year and expects to continue seeing some of his current patients.
He even expects to see some of his Fort Drum patients follow him to his new office on outer Washington Street.
"Since I've been here for so long, I've seen some patients for 10 years," he said. "Patients need to feel comfortable with their physician and that relationship develops over a couple of years and you want to keep that going."
Col. Black went through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Syracuse University, graduating in 1983, and said he never intended to make the Army a career. But after the Army paid for his doctor of medicine degree from F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., he needed to commit to 14 years of Army service.
After that, it only seemed natural to stay until retirement.
"I'm not much of a television watcher and I don't like to slow down," he said. "My wife and I joke that I'll continue to work hard until my kids get through college and then I'll think about slowing down. Which means I'll work only three to four days a week."
And with a shortage of doctors in the area, Col. Black knows he will be helping the community that has supported him and his family for 19 years.
"The relationship between the military and the medical community has never been better," he said. "The doctors who have left the military and stayed here have helped fill the need because the area doesn't have enough doctors, especially in primary care or in specialties."
