By By Adam Prestridge
Dr. Cynthia Worrell-White announced earlier this week that she will be closing the doors to her pediatrics practice in Atmore at the end of the year.
White, Atmore's lone pediatrician, began announcing her "semi-retirement" Monday in the form of a letter to the parents of her patients. In the letter she stated, "It is with a heartfelt note of sadness that I tell you I shall be closing my office practice at Atmore Children's Clinic effective Dec. 31, 2006."
Worrell-White cited personal reasons for her decision.
"Know that there are many reasons for my prayerfully making this decision, and it is, as always, with a sense of God's leading in my life, that I walk forward in this new phase of life called, I guess, semi-retirement."
Beginning January 2, 2007, Worrell-White will begin working part-time in the practice of Pensacola Pediatrics. She said leaving the children she has tended to all these years would be a difficult adjustment to, once gone.
"One of the hardest things when you leave a practice is leaving the children and their families because you get so attached," Worrell-White said. "I love Atmore. I will still be living in Walnut Hill and doing my personal business in Atmore. I feel a part of Atmore."
White started Walnut Hill Children's Medical Center in Walnut Hill, Fla. in 1985, working on a part-time basis. In 1989, she began working full-time until 2003 when she relocated to Atmore and started Atmore Children's Clinic. She is also on the active staff at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla.
During Worrell-White's time in Atmore, she has compiled a large number of patients. She said she would be taking those patients' charts with her to Pensacola Pediatrics.
Even though her new role would be much different, Worrell-White believes it will all work out for the best.
"It will be a situation where I can continue seeing kids in the office setting, which I love, and I will have none of the responsibilities of administration or financial overhead," Worrell-White said.
If the parents of patients wish to have their child's charts, Worrell-White said she would be happy to copy and fax them to any other doctor with whom they wish to establish.
After Jan. 2, 2007, please call 1-850-473-0100.