Gloucester County Times
Sunday, January 26, 2003

On Web and radio, he's doctor of all media

By Theresa Katalinas
tkatalinas@sjnewsco.com

HARRISON TWP. -- Dr. Craig M. Wax's personalized approach to patient care swept wife Caryl off her feet.

"I fell in love with him on our first date," Caryl Wax said. "He is as passionate about medicine as I am about teaching."
 

Now, many dates and two children later, Caryl said she's happy to help her spouse reach his medicine-related goals.

Since the Mullica Hill practice opened nearly two years ago, Caryl retired her teaching hat and took over as office manager. The move made their 7-month-old son Evan a permanent fixture in the office, which is reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

During a recent visit, a handwritten note taped to a closed door informed office staff and patients that a tuckered out Evan was asleep within.

"We really feel comfortable knowing our patients and helping our patients feel comfortable," Caryl Wax said. "My son being here is just part of what we offer. It's the old-fashioned doctor's office that you expect, but don't see anymore."

Dr. Wax, formerly of Bridgeton, said the idea for a small practice was born after working in larger practices and realizing that more personalized care was possible.

Providing patients with information necessary to care for themselves is Dr. Wax's goal.

"The better I can educate you about your own self, the better you can do it," Craig Wax said. "My patients are informed consumers."

He said patients -- and their health -- matter 100 percent.

Since 1999, Dr. Wax has sacrificed the wee night hours maintaining the Web site HealthIsNumberOne.com to keep individuals informed about medical issues.

"If you have health you can do anything," Craig Wax said. "The trick is to find it and keep it."

Equipped with documentation on more than 60 topics and various health-related links, the site serves as a one-stop shop for general medical resource needs. But, Dr. Wax stresses that individuals should not substitute information for regular medical care.

An Osteopathic physician who takes a holistic healing approach, Dr. Wax also offers periodic lectures and has written for various health publications, including National Osteopathic Medicine Week, Women's Health and Golden Times.

Most recently, Dr. Wax joined the local airwaves as a Thursday evening radio host for "Your Health Matters," on Rowan University Radio 89.7FM WGLS.

The show, which has touched on a wide range of medical issues such as allergies, diabetes and genetics, is geared as a public service initiative to arm individuals with as much information as possible.

He said the impromptu program tackles anything and everything and has featured Nobel Prize winners, "radicals" and conventional medical experts.

"We like to make it almost like the "Brady Bunch," he said of the show. "In the beginning, we discuss the problem and who it affects. Then we go into aspects of the problem and preventing (it). ... At the end, we tie it all together."