San Saba’s physician, Dr. Craig Whiting, retires

For many years Dr. Craig Whiting has been the County’s only local doctor. Yes, there may be other doctors who travel here from time to time, but he has been the one constant doctor here in San Saba County for quite some time.

I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Whiting last week to get a few tidbits about him you may not know.

Dr. Whiting received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&I University in Corpus Christi and obtained his D.O. degree from University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) in Ft. Worth. His first years in practice were in Corpus Christi, but he later joined a colleague in his practice in Ft. Worth. Several years of teaching in the medical school at UNTHSC followed that.

A New Freedom, a New Chapter

Dr. Whiting and his wife Karen have three children. Once their youngest child graduated from high school, they thought… “We can go anywhere. Where should we go?”

After looking and looking to see where they might go, they found out about an opening in Central Texas through the placement services of the Christian Medical Association. (CMA). (He was the Faculty Advisor for the CMA chapter at UNTHSC.) And that opening was in San Saba, Texas.

You could probably guess their first words… “Where in the world is San Saba, Texas? They found out how remote it was and pretty much discarded the idea.

One day, they decided to take a slightly longer route from Ft. Worth to San Antonio, and they drove through San Saba, “just to see.”

At that time, the clinic was part of Llano Memorial. The Whitings met the people at the clinic and drove around the town. They thought, “A welcoming atmosphere. A beautiful little town. That’s really nice.”

They returned to the town and attended a few different churches. Dr. Whiting said, “We felt like God was drawing us to this town.” With a fair amount of trepidation, he accepted the job, and they moved to San Saba.

Getting Settled 

Dr. Whiting said he and Karen both felt immediately drawn in and accepted as part of the community and said that since that time, “We really felt like we melted, blended into the community.”

Karen had been a church secretary in Ft. Worth. After moving to San Saba, she taught reading at the elementary school for about a year. Her degree is in primary education. Approximately a year after they got to San Saba, an opening came up for secretary at San Saba’s First Baptist Church, and she accepted the job.

How practicing Medicine has changed in San Saba through the years

 When Dr. Whiting first got here, the clinic here was one of six clinics that were part of the Llano Memorial Hospital umbrella. Later, Llano Memorial partnered with Scott & White to build a new hospital. Then, Baylor merged with Scott & White around 2008. Dr. Whiting described his practice in the early days in San Saba as the Wild West. He said you did what you could and the best you could.

Having a huge organization like Baylor Scott & White proved to be a safety net. He said, “When you had a difficult case, there were many specialists within the BS&W System to refer your patients. When the clinic became part of Scott & White, information flowed so much easier. It really helped us take care of patients. When Scott & White joined Baylor, not only did we share medical records, but we shared them electronically. We can share information, get advice, really at the speed of light now. It has really been a real help for us at this clinic to have that available.” 

The Many "Hats"  of Dr. Whiting

As part of working under the Llano Memorial umbrella, and later the BS&W umbrella, Dr. Whiting stated he has continuously been Medical Director at a nursing home in town since around 2006, including Eventide, Pecan Valley, and San Saba Nursing Home.

After being here about a year, a Medical Director of the all volunteer EMS services was needed when Bill Carpenter stepped down, so Dr. Whiting took over. That was in 2003. He continued with that until the City decided to hire an outside agency to handle the EMS a few years ago.

Dr. Whiting was the de facto medical health authority in town, because with Dr. Carpenter leaving, Dr. Whiting was the only doctor in the County. Those duties included simple things such as: jail inspection, sometimes pronouncing death if the judge was not available, or attending to sick inmates.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the County had Dr. Whiting sign up officially with the Department of Health as the Local Health Authority. He worked closely with Emergency Management Coordinator Marsha Hardy during the pandemic to set up testing sights, arrange vaccinations, etc. With the information changing almost constantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Whiting kept the public very informed by supplying articles in the San Saba News & Star weekly.

When ClearView Family Resources was forming, Dr. Whiting came on board as the Medical Director to help get them started. That duty has now been passed on to Dr. Sky Forester from Llano.

Missions Heart

The Whitings would annually go on CMA sponsored medical mission trips with medical students. Even after coming to San Saba, they continued to do that. There is hardly a year they’ve missed going on one of those. Most recently, they went to the Dominican Republic.

Most of the time, they would go to Mexico. When it got too dangerous to go there, because of the Cartels and such, they started going to Central America. (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Belize, Costa Rica, etc.)

Dr. Whiting said, “It is one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.” He continued, “One of the things you want to do as a physician is to give back to the people who gave of themselves to train you. And you want to touch the future of medicine. Working with medical students on a medical mission is a powerful way to do that.

“On these medical missions there are primarily first and second year students who still have that dreamy-eyed, altruistic vision of medicine. Medical school can drum it out of you. It is a lot of hard work. By the time you finish four years of medical school and three years of residency, a lot of that altruism has been flattened. “But, this reminds you of the reason why you chose medicine. And it teaches you there is a limit to medicine. You can help a person just so far physically, but if you don’t address their spiritual needs, what you’ve done is temporary. “When you are on a mission trip, you might give them enough medicine to help them through a single illness perhaps, or get them enough of their long-term medicine for a month or two, your ability to improve their quality of life or number of years is very limited. But if you touch them spiritually, you can affect their eternity. It is a wonderful lesson.”

What happens now?

When Dr. Whiting was asked what he would do differently now that he is retired, he had a one-word answer, “Travel.”

He noted that he and Karen bought an RV and have taken a couple of trips, to Tucson and Niagara Falls, to see if they liked that. They did! Having more freedom now because of retirement, they are going to make good use of that RV.

The Whitings’ three children live in Ft. Worth, Seattle, and Waco, and they have six grandchildren. I asked Dr. Whiting if they were going to move closer to one of their children. He said they are staying right here in San Saba.

How is the BS&W clinic going to change when you retire?

There will be one less provider, but things won’t really change here. Dr. Whiting has only been seeing patients on Fridays for about a year, so the available volume won’t drastically go down. There are still three Nurse Practitioners at the clinic: Lisa Theodosis, Courtney Craft, and Martha Lubars.

Dr. Whiting assures the community that the San Saba Baylor Scott & White Clinic will still be able to see everyone who wants to be seen, and they will still have the same services they have now.

I asked Dr. Whiting about a supervising doctor for the clinic. He reports that Baylor Scott & White will continue to allow him to supervise the Nurse Practitioners at the clinic. They will still go to him with questions, asking him to look at EKG’s, X-rays, etc. This will not change. He assured me he will still have access to the medical records of the patients, and the Nurse Practitioners can still consult with him, even if he is in out of town.

I asked Dr. Whiting if he would cease to be Medical Director of San Saba Nursing and Rehab after his retirement. He answered, “No, the nursing home has a contract with BS&W to supply their medical director, and both the nursing home and BS&W agree to allow me to continue to fill that role. I am going to retire from the clinic practice.”

A Word for the Citizens:

Many insurances require patients to sign up with a PCP. They can choose one of the Nurse Practitioners at the BS&W clinic as their Primary Care Provider. It does not have to be a physician with most insurances. If your insurance does require you choose a physician (and not a Nurse Practitioner), you can choose a BS&W physician (from Llano, Killeen, Copperas Cove, etc.) and still be seen here in San Saba by an NP.

So, if you have Dr. Whiting as your PCP, you will need to get that changed.

The Clinic Manager, Brandi Roberts, who is also the Clinic Manager for the Llano BS&W clinic, suggests that if your insurance requires a physician as your PCP, and if you have no other preference, that you choose a Llano provider. She said the same person handles the insurance verification for both clinics, San Saba and Llano.

A final word from Dr. Whiting: 

“Baylor Scott & White has posted an opening for a physician at the San Saba Clinic. They are not planning on leaving the clinic without a doctor. “If anyone out there knows a doctor looking for a place to practice, tell them that they would be foolish not to think of coming here. Let them know San Saba is available and it is a wonderful town.

“I spent the first three decades of my life seeking knowledge, and I was trained in biology, chemistry, education and medicine. It has been my honor serve you as a physician, to call San Saba home, and to call you friends.

But from my earliest memories I recognized that this world, this universe, was created. I sought for the truth of who that creator might be. My greatest discovery in all my seeking after knowledge came in my 21st year. I was introduced to Jesus and recognized my need for His saving grace. My prayer for you is that you seek the truth of your Creator. He is a God who loves you and who has a plan for your good – not just in this brief life on earth, but for all of eternity. Seek Him; He can be found.”