The surprise celebration was a bit overwhelming for the 90-year-old doctor, a Downey pioneer who came to the city almost 60 years ago as a young doctor eager to help his patients. But the smile on his face when he walked in the restaurant and looked around the room said it all.
Back in the 1950s, from his office on 3rd Street in the city of Downey, Dr. Ozaki delivered babies, tended to the old and infirmed and dedicated his professional life to caring for hundreds of Downey families. Ozaki attended Loma Linda University, where he completed his medical education and received formal training as a family doctor who delivered almost all of the care to his patients.
Each morning, he’d arrive at Downey Regional Hospital to perform surgery and then spent up to 10 hour days in his office seeing patients and finally returned to the hospital in the evening to care for and visit patients.
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He made house calls and treated countless patients who did not have the money to pay him or health insurance.
“It was a time in healthcare when family doctors like myself did everything in medicine for our patients, from delivering their babies to caring for their grandparents and doing surgery,” he recalled. “If I fit the bill for an old fashioned doctor, then so be it – that’s what I was and continued to be for decades.”
Today, at age 90, Dr. Ozaki still works, getting up each day to help Dr. Edelstein, a Downey eye physician. “I don’t have a practice any more but I still keep my fingers in the medical arena by helping my fellow colleagues,” he said.
His work and his love of his rose garden seem to keep a twinkle in his eye. “I’d still be seeing my patients if I could,” he added. “I miss them terribly.”
It is not uncommon for Dr. Ozaki to be greeted by his former patients, or their children or grand children, all of whom he treated as a family physician.
“He is an amazing doctor, the kind of doctor whose spirit for caring for patients was contagious to all of us,” recalled Sheldon S. Zinberg, MD, a long-time Downey physician who founded CareMore and worked along side Dr. Ozaki. “He never took a vacation or days off. He committed his life to making sure his patients were well and healthy. “
Today, as he battles the aches and pains that come with living to be age 90, he still can be found on the computer in Dr. Edelstein’s office, researching new advances in medicine.
“Medical science still amazes me, and it keeps my mind engaged,” he said. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
About CareMore
CareMore began serving seniors as a Health Plan and continues to do so today through our Provider partners and as a Medical Group. The company serves 35,000 seniors in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Santa Clara counties in California. The company recently expanded in Modesto, CA; Tucson, AZ; and Clark, NV. What products does CareMore offer? CareMore offers a variety of health plans (Value Plus, Reliance, Breathe, Connect, ESRD, Touch and Heart) for all Medicare beneficiaries, including plans for low-income seniors, people with chronic illnesses and those living in skilled nursing facilities.