Physician with a mission

Dr. Jeffrey Corrigan, a family practitioner, has served the downtrodden in Central America’s povertystricken Honduras and provided healthcare for inmates at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution.

A testicular cancer survivor, he focuses on the mind-body-spirit connection, in treating his patients.

Corrigan brings a myriad of experiences and a rich educational background to his new position with Prevea Health-Plymouth. His office is located at the Plymouth Medical Plaza, 515 E. Mill St., Plymouth.

A Lafayette, Ind. native, Corrigan, 45, recently joined Prevea Health, a physician’s group of more than 200 healthcare providers, located in Green Bay and Northeastern Wisconsin. After his September orientation, he began seeing patients at the Plymouth Medical Plaza Oct. 2, 2009.

He and his wife Summar are Sheboygan residents. They have three children – Nabeal, 13; Nedda, 15; and Janan, 18.

Corrigan met his wife, while the two were working on their undergraduate degrees at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. His wife majored in business, and Corrigan, in secondary education, with a major in chemistry and a minor in math.

Following their graduations, they spent six years working with Campus Crusade for Christ International, headquartered in Orlando. The organization builds spiritual movements on college campuses.

The couple began working with Campus Crusade for Christ at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and then moved to Columbus, Ohio, where they were affiliated with that ministry at Ohio State University.

Later, Corrigan was named administrative director for campus ministries, overseeing universities affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ International.

“However, administrative work was not a fit for me,” he said. “Also, Campus Crusade for Christ International was going to move us to Indiana, and we did not want to move.”

During his last year in that position, he investigated other vocational opportunities, culminating in his resigning that position to pursue a career in medicine. After a great deal of soul-searching, he decided to take the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) exam and passed.

Regarding his decision to study medicine, he said, “My wife and I had a compassionate physician Dr. Cliff Raymond in Columbus, who helped us through a difficult time.

“He was an inspiration for me,” Corrigan noted. “Also, I wanted to have a career in which I would work with people and do something that pushes me to my limits.”

Then too, his background in chemistry was a good fit for the medical field. However, he needed to take some biology courses as prerequisites for medical school and completed those.

He spent four years (1992-96) in medical school at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. Dr. Bill Geiger, who was his mentor there, is now director of The Family Residency Program for the Columbia St. Mary’s Hospitals, located in Milwaukee and Mequon.

From 1996-99, Corrigan completed a community family practice program for his residency training, at the Mid Michigan Regional Medical Center in Midland, Mich., serving as chief resident in his third year there.

At first he aspired to become an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist.

“However, I needed the challenge of the full spectrum of family medicine, treating patients of all ages,” he said. “Family medicine appealed to me, and I had had a good experience with this field in medical school.”

Having completed his residency, he worked with a recruiter in seeking a location to practice medicine. “We wanted to stay in the Midwest,” he said.

In September 1999, he accepted a position with Aurora Health Care, as a family practitioner at the Aurora Sheboygan Clinic’s Southside Clinic in Sheboygan. From 2003-06, he worked at the walk-in clinic of the Aurora Sheboygan Clinic on Kohler Memorial Drive, and then returned to the Aurora Southside Clinic in May 2006.

Corrigan faced a major setback in August that year, being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He underwent surgery, followed by chemotherapy treatments.

“I had a terrible time with the chemo,” he noted. “At 6-feet-5-inches, I dropped down to 170 pounds. Because of the significant health problems from the chemo, I was unable to work.”

Then, in October 2007, his parents Bob and Louise Corrigan, Indiana residents, invited Corrigan to accompany a team on a 10-day mission trip to Siguatepeque, a city in the central mountains of Honduras – a country in which one-third of the population live on less than $2 per day. Corrigan accepted the challenge.

“While I was there, I worked with Dr. Larry Whiting, an internist, and his wife Lori,” Corrigan said. “I had met him in Michigan. He and his wife invite teams down to Honduras – the poorest country in Central America. Larry takes the team in his giant-sized truck out to assist the underserved.”

Corrigan made a second short-term mission trip to Honduras in March 2008. On both trips, the mission team ministered to the people’s spiritual and physical needs.

“The people are required to hear the Gospel, before they can receive medical treatment,” Corrigan noted.

The Garifuna people, descendents of slaves, and the Lenca Indian group they served there are some of the poorest of the poor. Corrigan served in these and other communities, such as Palagua, a village near the El Salvador border, lacking clean water and without bathroom facilities, except for a single, crude outhouse.

“We slept on cots with mosquito netting around them and ate military MRE rations,” he said, adding that these missionary trips were eye opening and humbling.

In September 2007, he officially declined Aurora’s full-time employment offer, as his health was not up to par for a full-time position.

Then, in May 2008, Corrigan accepted a part-time position with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, to serve inmates in the Health Services Unit at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution, a mediumsecurity facility with a population of 2,200 male inmates.

“God sends us to schools we never plan to attend,” Corrigan said of his work there. “I chose not to be cynical, but I knew I had to be skeptical.”

One of his insights while working there was that 99 percent of the inmates had had issues with their fathers.

“Their dads had deserted them or abused them, had been alcohol or drug abusers, or had other issues,” Corrigan said.

“I commented to a co-worker, ‘All these people [inmates] are 14-year-olds in big men’s suits.’ I realized in working with the inmates how important a good relationship is with one’s father.”

Corrigan employed skills he learned in his education studies, while at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution.

“The repeat offenders were sent to a segregation unit,” he explained. “I gave them a presentation, ‘How to Talk with Your Doctor.’”

“In providing medical treatment to them, I found it was difficult to communicate with them, as they had never been taught to be honest and straightforward,” Corrigan noted. “So, I taught them life skills, such as how to prioritize.

“I also taught them basic communication skills, like proper body language to use while interacting with others and how to treat others with respect.”

He resigned his position with the Department of Corrections (DOC) this past September. With the knowledge he was cancer-free and feeling well, and realizing the DOC did not have a full-time position available, Corrigan sought employment elsewhere.

“I really wanted to return to the full spectrum of family care, serving people of all ages and sexes,” he admitted.

He is now employed for Prevea and is on staff at St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan. When Prevea constructs its new, 17,000-square-foot clinic in Plymouth, slated for completion within a year, Corrigan’s office will be located there.

An avid photographer, he also enjoys playing the guitar, hunting, fishing, reading, playing chess and spending time with friends.

He is content, having found his vocational niche.

“Being a family practitioner is the right fit,” he affirmed. “I enjoy working with Prevea. The network has a great staff. I’m not burdened here and can be freed up with all the support I have to focus on my patients.

“Prevea has the electronic medical record – a dynamic tool,” Corrigan added.

“The word `Doctor’ is Latin for ‘teaching,’ he said. “I do that on a one-to-one basis with my patients, in helping them come up with a solution.”

Note: Dr. Jeffrey Corrigan welcomes new patients. For further information, phone 892-4322.