Calling all 'monkeys' and 'mice': Beloved Rockford pediatrician to retire

Dr. Errol Baptist's office in Rockford, Illinois, has been inundated with patients lately, and it's not because there is a bug going around.

The widely trusted, well-known pediatrician is shutting down his clinical practice after 45 years.

After July 29, Baptist will keep answering his personal phone and teaching at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, but he will no longer see the hundreds, if not thousands, of children he typically sees each year.

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While Baptist is looking forward to the next chapter in his life, he said he will miss the daily interactions with children, their parents and his staff all of whom have become his extended family.

"I like to talk to people," he said. "And I do a lot of small talk, goofy things with the kids."

Anyone who has been to Baptist knows they should be ready to answer "Are you a monkey or a mouse?" along with a host of other playful questions during their visit.

Don't forget the magic tricks. Making the quarter disappear and reappear in his hand is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.

And you can't leave without getting an update on one of Baptist's most popular patients — Bugs Bunny.

Making kids happy

The secret to Baptist's success and popularity among Rockford area families is not really much of a secret.

Being a physician means more than curing a child of an ailment, Baptist explained.

"Pediatrics is about making kids happy," he said. "Kids look forward to something that they know and know all the answers to."

Baptist said his little patients often entertain him as much as he entertains them.

"This mom comes to visit with three little girls. And I said, 'Your kids are really cute, do you know that?'

"And she says, 'Yes. And do you know what my cute little girls did to me?"

The mom then proceeds to tell a story about how the girl's took their "Dr. Baptist loves me" stickers from their last visit and decided to put them on their mother's back.

"She says, 'I'm walking through the mall, and everybody is laughing at me,'" he said.

'He's the best'

Parents throughout the Rock River Valley say it is Baptist's personal commitment to children that has made him one of the region's most trusted physicians.

"He's taken care of my whole family," said Nicole Jackson, a former patient and now a mother of two daughters, Savannah Sandquist, 18, and Gracie Yario, 7.

Jackson brought Gracie to Baptist's office Thursday for a check up on Gracie's sprained ankle.

"He's the best," she said. "You can see the love and care that he as for his patients. He is definitely doing his calling in life."

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Tami Mullranin, a mother of four children — Matti, 24, Katelin, 17, Emilee, 15, and Zakery, 10 — said Baptist routinely "goes the extra mile."

"He's not afraid to make sure to stay on top of things, especially if you had a kid that was really super sick," she said.

"At one point, I had his personal contact information. And when Katelin was like one years old, I was calling him every two hours throughout the night.

"You don't get that (level of care) nowadays."

More time for family

The reasons behind Baptist's retirement are simple. It's time, the 77-year-old physician said.

"Time has come to devote more time to the family," he said of his wife of 46 years, Rosemary, and their two children and eight grandchildren.

Andrea Giamalva, medical director of primary care at UW Health Northern Illinois, and Julia Zimmerman, vice president of strategic growth, welcomed Baptist to UW Health System in 2020.

"I've been here a long time at SwedishAmerican, and we have always had great respect for him and how he takes care of his patients," Zimmerman said.

Giamalva is a former student of Baptist. She said she knows firsthand how much the beloved doctor and professor of pediatrics means to not just Rockford but to the medical profession overall.

"He's just an amazing educator and so dedicated," she said. "It's not just the dedication to his patients and his clinic, but his dedication to the next generation of physicians."

Chris Green: 815-987-1241, cgreen@rrstar.com, @chrisfgreen

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Beloved Rockford pediatrician is hanging up his stethoscope