By Eric W. Schoen
Have the members of your family ever used the same doctor for over 46 years? With the same last name as yours?
As of December 31, There will be no more “Schoen for Schoen” at the check in at Westmed Medical Group at Ridge Hill anymore. No more annual pineapple cheesecake for the winter holidays prepared by my sister for the doctor.
Dr. Herbert Schoen, a Yonkers institution, is retiring after almost 46 years in practice. My family, especially my sister, has been his patient for that entire time. As her memory is better than mine, I have asked her to contribute and she has added much to this article.
It was around 1973-1974 that Dr. Bertram Oppenheimer, himself a renowned doctor and Hospital Administrator in Yonkers who enjoyed a good tobacco pipe, decided to leave private practice and go into hospital administration and a young whippersnapper Dr. Herbert Schoen was brought in to replace him.
Born and raised in Manhattan, he has practiced at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers for many years. Board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and he is a Fellow, American College of Gastroenterology. He has a special interest in nutrition and intestinal disorders.
He received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical. Dr. Schoen completed a clinical gastroenterology residency at Maimonides Hospital, followed by a gastroenterology research fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, he received a master’s degree in clinical nutrition from Columbia University.
Dr. Schoen has treated all of us in the Sidney Schoen family as well as the other Schoens in Yonkers. No one is related, but they often showed up at the office at the same time.
As my sister says, “no one was Schoen when they got off the boat.” She also says when asked if she is related to him (quite often!) “No, but I am his longest and his favorite patient.” The good doctor will confirm this.
He will also confirm that this is the first year in ages he did not get his annual homemade pineapple cheesecake (thank you, Covid). A Junior’s strawberry swirl cheesecake had to do. Still delicious but not the same.
Dr. Schoen is a tough taskmaster and a dedicated physician. When our dad (a true workaholic) had his first massive heart attack, he persuaded my mom to bring his work to the hospital.
My sister called the doctor frantically. The doctor was there shortly after not so gently pulling his papers away and lecturing him on how this was not going to happen.
I was in business dress and had a busy day starting with taking my mom to the doctor. It ended with a fundraiser for my friend, former Yonkers Mayor Nick Wasicsko. I came home from the fundraiser, took my shoes off and my right foot up to about mid calf was completely swollen. I could not walk.
I rushed to St. John’s Hospital in a cab. This was the first year of Lyme disease. The hospital had been in touch at 11 p.m or 12 p.m. at night with Dr. Schoen who ordered tests to see what was going on. Dr. Schoen was on the phone with me at 1:30 a.m. telling me I was being admitted. I was immediately put on a strong regimen of intravenous antibiotics.
At the time it took 10 days for Lyme tests to come back. My tests came back in 7 days. Positive! Hard to believe because I was not the kind of person who was in the woods or in areas where I could have picked up a tick.
When my mom was transferred to a nursing home and no longer under Dr. Schoen’s care, my sister called him with a list of questions to check about the decisions the assigned doctor at the home was making. Schoen women love their lists! He took the time to answer them all and reassure her that if he was treating her, he would be doing the same thing.
She also prepared a list of questions for him when he joined Westmed. Don’t worry. He answered all of them too.
When my sister got unexpectedly and surprisingly seriously ill in December 2014 (approximately 6 years to this date ), she called the doctor. He returned the call within 5 minutes – from the slopes in Vermont and monitored her progress from there to Urgent Care to the Emergency Room to admission into the hospital.
Then there are other sides of Dr. Schoen. He always looks to make a match (a “shiddach” in Yiddish) when he refers you to a specialist/another doctor. Not only does he make the appropriate matches, he is excellent at ”coordinating” the medical team. He is a “take charge” kind of guy.
When one of my sisters new specialists asked the question on her first visit to him, “ who runs your show?” my sister promptly and confidently answered , “Dr. Schoen”. He never disappoints. He also prepared a list for my sister of the possible candidates to “succeed” him. As far as she is concerned no one can replace him!
He is an excellent diagnostician. My mom overheard him diagnosing one of her hospital roommates. She then called us to say “you know he’s really good.” He also figured out what my sister’s issues were right away. He loves to learn. He went on to receive a Master’s in Nutrition to further help his patients.
My sister, an early childhood educator had to learn about childhood diseases as she was so often exposed ( this was before the good Doctor had kids of his own and had that pleasure). She once had a terrible case of impetigo. Having never had chickenpox and no immunity, she became subject A 28 in the development of the chicken pox vaccine.
She clearly remembers Dr. Schoen sitting down with her under the desk table lamp with the gigantic old medical books and looking up those 2 diseases.
He’s a nice thoughtful guy. When my sister’s beloved 19 1/2 year old cat crossed over the rainbow bridge (where all beloved pets go when it is their time), Dr.Schoen called her to say how sorry he was and if he could do anything to help her get through this difficult time, please feel free to ask.
Thank you, Dr. Herbert Schoen for 46 years of caring, dedication , treatment, expertise, patience, and wonderful care for the Sidney Schoen family and many families in Yonkers and beyond. They just don’t make ‘ em like that anymore! Yes friends, He, Too is Yonkers!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
