When opening a family medical practice, it pays to have a keen eye for real estate.
Longtime Northeast Philadelphia physician Franklin M. Stein apparently sized up the local real estate market like an expert when he opened his first office at Frankford Avenue and Pearson Street in a mostly undeveloped area of town.
That was in 1957. In the half century since, Stein has never found himself short of patients, thanks to the massive development of the Far Northeast. This year, the doctor is celebrating his golden anniversary in typical fashion — typical for him, that is.
There have been no awards or fanfare. Rather, he just shows up at his office every day and continues to serve the communities that have blossomed around him.
"There was a farm and the owner, Ed Griffin, used to bring me fresh corn all the time," Stein recalled of the rustic landscape that at one time surrounded his first office, which once doubled as his family’s home.
"(The land) was all open. Morrell Park wasn’t there, but Pennypack (Woods) was there. The area has really grown up since then," he explained.
The same could be said of many of the doctor’s longtime patients, some of whom he delivered as newborns.
"That’s been fun, very enjoyable," said Stein, who claims that he stopped revealing his age once he hit 55.
Stein isn’t sure when he first decided he wanted to be a doctor, but his bio in his Central High School yearbook noted his interest in the profession. The South Philadelphia native later graduated from Ursinus College and the medical school at the University of California at Irvine.
Stein and his late first wife lived above his first medical office until the 1963 birth of their third child, a son. After moving to Huntingdon Valley, the doctor continued to practice at Frankford and Pearson until about seven years ago, when he and his partners relocated to Shelly’s Plaza, at 8846 Frankford Ave.
For much of his career, Stein performed an array of medical services that you just don’t see from family doctors in today’s highly specialized climate. He delivered babies at the former Rolling Hill Hospital in Elkins Park and later at Frankford Hospital’s Torresdale Campus. Eventually, he became head of family practice at Frankford-Torresdale and president of the medical staff.
Stein has administered stitches, set broken bones and made countless house calls during his career.
"As maudlin as it sounds, he is the real-life Marcus Welby," said Stein’s longtime partner, Dr. Joseph J. Franzi, comparing him to the versatile doctor of TV fame in the early ’70s.
"A real family physician in the old days did it all," Stein explained. "In those days, there weren’t that many specialists."
With the evolution of his profession and the American health-care system, along with the rising costs of malpractice insurance, the role of family doctors is more narrowly defined today.
"You have to do what you feel is the right thing (for patients), but now I refer things to specialists more than I have in the past," Stein said.
On the other hand, his personable demeanor has remained intact, his patients and staff insist.
Pennypack resident Dot Harold has been seeing Stein since he first moved to the area. She was a teen at the time. Harold can’t recall ever being really sick, but she’s always enjoyed her doctor visits.
"He delivered my daughter and he was going to deliver my son, but he had taken his kids to camp (at the time)," Harold said. "My husband went to him before we were married, and I brought my children to him.
"My mom was one of his first patients," Harold explained. "She was eighty-eight when she stopped seeing him. She used to say, ‘He could put his shoes under my bed anytime.’"
Harold’s mom, Dot Lynn, is 93 now and lives in a nursing home.
"He’s a true gentleman and a true physician," said Patty O’Donnell, Stein’s office manager for about a decade. "He sees each person as they are, and he would always see anyone."
Bonnie Frame sees the same virtues in Dr. Stein. "He a very even-keeled person. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him lose his temper or lose his patience," agreed Frame, an X-ray technician who has worked with Stein for 30 years.
The doctor attributes his great bedside manner to the joy he finds in the work he does. First of all, he enjoys being around people.
"If you come to work mad every day, patients will see that, I guess," he said.
Also, learning new things about medicine captivates him as much as it ever has. "I’m always learning and going to (medical conferences)," the doctor said.
Medicine has changed dramatically since he first went into practice. Diagnostic procedures and equipment are more complex. Pharmaceutical companies are constantly expanding the array of available medications. Today’s patient files are crammed with paperwork, whereas years ago, an index card could contain all of the pertinent information.
"He is always willing to listen to new developments in the industry," said Marc Hirschler, a pharmaceutical sales representative who has known Stein for eight years. "With managed-care issues, he has to jump a lot of hurdles, but he’ll jump those hurdles to prescribe (certain) medications."
Above all else, those around Stein value his unmatched experience. Often, he knows his patients better than they know themselves.
"He actually knows (medical histories of) whole families," O’Donnell said. "I know for a fact he recently treated a woman for something after he remembered her mother had the same condition. He reminded her of it. You have complete trust in him."
The feeling is mutual for Stein, who admits he still can’t imagine what he’d do without his work, even at a point in his career when he could easily retire.
"I keep telling everybody that I’ll continue until I don’t know my way here anymore," Stein said. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com