My passion for science and medicine was in part kindled as a young boy, flipping through the pages of our family’s set of encyclopedias, fascinated by the transparencies that showed the inner-layered anatomy of the human body, page by page. Education and learning have always been a great adventure, but overall, as a young boy, I harbored an instinctual fascination and reverence for life in all its forms. Having said that, to be honest, dogs were probably at the top of that list of biological beings, and thus, I initially planned a career in Veterinary Medicine. Those familiar with the children’s books of Thorton W. Burgess, will have a sense of my spirit, and of James Herriot’s works (e.g., All Things Great and Small) can have a sense of what I romantically envisioned for myself at that time. 

When I was about eight years old, my mother returned to school to seek her nursing degree, and this led, as I grew older, to occasional opportunities to travel with her on Home Health visits. These experiences probably fertilized the initial seeds of thought, “Why not humans, Andrew?” For in these moments, I gained a recognition for the level of kindness and compassion that my mother brought to her work as a caretaker, and its clear impact on the well-being of those patients. They were joyful to visit with her, despite whatever challenges any of them might be facing. This I noted.

Prior to moving to Texas at the age of 13, I had grown up in New England where my extended family was scattered throughout the area. Influences from my birth city in Concord, Massachusetts, site of “the shot heard round the world,” as well as the home of the Transcendentalist movement and homes for Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and extending to Boston the birthplace of Christian Science, which my paternal grandparents were members of, as well as a keen recognition of the historical American spirit found in this area, have all had profound and indelible impacts on my spiritual and personal development. I was immersed in nature from birth and our vacations were spent on the road with my family touring the countryside and camping and exploring. This immersion in nature, and the recognition of the divine energy that animates both ourselves and Mother Nature, was critical. 

As I entered my higher schooling, my evolving fascination with the biology of life led to my major field of study while an undergraduate at Texas A&M University. Majoring in Biomedical Science, within the College of Veterinary Medicine, I straddled the courses for veterinarians and physicians, receiving a Bachelor of Science in December 1990. As I progressed into Medical School at the University of Texas in Galveston, I found myself drawn to the field of primary care and ultimately pursued specialization in Family Medicine. After a three-year residency training program at Advent’s Florida Hospital in Orlando, I became board-certified in Family Medicine, and returned to Central Texas.

Approaching 30 years of service since that time, I have been blessed with a varied work experience including work within large multi-specialty group practices, hospital supported clinics, college health, community-supported health clinics, and Urgent Care. 

Throughout my journey I have maintained an appreciation for the humility and humanity of my mother, the rigorous adherence to self-discipline, education, and faith from my father, and have absorbed for emulation many other admirable qualities from the other teachers who’ve crossed my path. With these qualities I bring an ever-deepening appreciation for the importance of a holistic or integrative approach to health care, one that focuses on a patient’s overall mental, spiritual, and emotional health in addition to general physical care. Attention to nutritional choices, activity regimen, stress management and psychosocial support, being foundational keys to optimizing one’s health and sense of well-being. And this is at the heart of my vision moving forward for what I perceive to be the final chapter of my professional career. 

The challenges faced over the past several years, the Covid Years, have had a profound impact on my vision for myself and primary medicine in general. I found myself unmoored and felt a bit adrift at sea. What grounded and crucially guided me through these times has been my connection to the divine. The gift of faith and it’s granted discernment have served to guide me to the place I stand now. Closer to God than perhaps I have been since a young boy, when his existence was as clear to me as the beauty of a twilight in backyard New England.  

What has changed on my return is the health care model for my practice. Returning to private practice, with the benefit and lessons of these past seven years, I bring insight and understanding that I lacked before. I bring a recognition also that I have been transformed by the path I’ve chosen to walk. It was, for certain, the path less travelled by, as Robert Frost would have said, and it has nurtured my strength of spirit, moral courage, and humility, and thus “made all the difference.” That means a different model for our times. For me, Direct Primary Care is the answer needed to achieve these objectives. 

Why Ministry Medical? Because at its root, ministry is about service. The times we are in call for it; the community we are a part of will prosper from it. And I am positioned at this time in my career to offer it. 

And so, I find myself thinking of the hopeful words from the great American-English poet T.S. Eliot in his Little Gidding of The Four Quartets:

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. 

  …

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

- Andrew M. Dale, MD