by Kathy Cook Hunter
Let’s say you have an appointment with Dr. Peters – will you be visiting Dr. Sarah Peters or Dr. Tim Peters? Or Dr. North – it is Dr. Senna North or Dr. Eric North?
The Peterses and the Norths are two of several “doctor couples,” medical teams working together in a single medical practice.
Six doctor couples shared what life is like for them. Some have young children, one couple’s children are nearly grown, and one couple plans to begin a family soon.
Drs. Sarah and Tim Peters, who have practiced in Silverton for 16 years, said life sometimes is not exactly smooth, especially trying to juggle a practice, children – 8 and 11 years old – and a marriage. Sarah Peters works two days a week while Tim Peters works four days a week. Their children appreciate their parents as doctors in the community.
“They do like it when they have a friend who sees us somewhere and talks to them about it,” Sarah Peters said. “They like the positive feedback.”
Sarah Peters said her children understand the unpredictability of their careers, that people need medical attention 24-7.
“They’re pretty used to the way it goes,” she said. “They get in the car and go to the hospital – they’re used to it.”
Tim Peters’ parents live in Mt. Angel and in emergencies come “all hours of the day and night,” she said, “and Matthew can stay with his sister now. He knows if he’s home alone (when his parents need to leave during the night) if I leave him a signal — he knows, when he wakes up.”
Friends, neighbors and hospital nurses have helped too, she said. “When the children were small we had a nanny two days who did some cleaning. But the majority comes to me because I’m home more. Now our children help with chores and we have a cleaning lady.”
They do need time away, Tim Peters said. “We wanted a bigger life, so we could talk about something else (besides work),” he said.
Dr. Shandra Greig and Dr. Rodney Orr are the parents of a daughter, 10, and a son, 8. He works Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and she works Tuesday and Thursday in Silverton with Wednesday in Molalla. It is important to them that they are at home after school.
“It’s pretty much of a challenge if both of us have early-morning procedures,” Greig said, “and then if a delivery happens, it puts it into a different category.”
If there’s an emergency, “We take the kids with us,” said Orr. “They either stay in the doctors’ lounge or close to the nurses’ station.”
“The nurses know our kids, they’ve seen them grow up,” Greig said.
Before their children entered school, they hired a full-time caregiver.
“Basically, we’re free to work with the children’s schedules at school,” he said, “and one of us can usually call the other and ask them to help out.”
As for medical conferences, sometimes both attend and sometimes they trade off. Time together is important, too. “Our big challenge is to take time to ourselves,” Orr said. “All married couples face this, but medical couples even more so.”
“Our kids kind of roll with the punches and are willing to make the effort since we do things for them such as coaching a team they’re on,” said Greig.
Dr. Faith Koschmann and Dr. James Domst have worked and lived in Mt. Angel two years. Their three children are young – all boys age 5 and under.
Sharing a full-time practice, each doctor works two days. 
“The best way to both be a physician and a parent is to be able to enjoy both roles as fully as possible,” Domst said. “It’s nontraditional – we just divide it up. I met a woman who wanted to have a career…”
“And I met a man who wanted to be a physician,” said his wife. They, too, watch other doctor couples as role models.
Having come from Washington, D.C., they say small-town life has great appeal. They don’t need as much money to live their lifestyle, and Domst added, “Even if we made more money, we would want this lifestyle.”
Because they parent equally, they said they use a baby-sitter “mainly if we go out to dinner and get some time away, or if we’re working on a procedure together.”
Drs. Andrea and Robert Larson are longtime Silverton doctors – 16 years. Andrea Larson is away from her practice temporarily and plans to return.
They have five children, two still at home, and at first he worked a half-day more than she did. “The rest of the time we were with the children,” said Andrea Larson. “We were blessed with having a mother-in-law (Wanda Larson) nearby who helped us greatly to deal with the kids. So, basically, they had dad, mom and grandma – we were very blessed.”
“I did all of the obstetrics and the night-time calls at the hospital,” Robert Larson said. “And I did the kid calls in the nighttime,” his wife said.
They live a few blocks from Silverton Hospital and their clinic, which has been convenient enough for walking to work. “It’s one of the advantages of living in a small town,” he said. “It felt like a family-friendly place.”
“And no commuting time gives you more family time,” Andrea Larson said. “Concerts, plays, all the things kids do at school – we never missed anything.”
Drs. Senna and Eric North, who practice with the Peterses, have been in Silverton one year. Since more American women are doctors now, they say couple doctors are not unusual.
“I thought we were unique but I’ve found it happens quite frequently,” Eric North said.
The Norths plan to adopt a child later this year. “We want to raise our kids, not someone else. We’ve thought a lot about it,” he said. “Senna mentioned a number of times she doesn’t want to put her life on hold.” Her mother will be moving from Portland to Silverton so she can help them.
“I also want to be at home,” Senna North said, noting her two-day-a-week schedule will allow for it. “That’s what Dr. Sarah (Peters) advised – it’s a good balance.”
They consider the Peterses as their couple-doctor models. “It’s nice with Dr. Sarah and I going through our careers together,” Dr. Senna North said. “I hear her answering her children’s questions on the phone, and I trust her judgment.”
Eric North doesn’t mind his busy schedule. “I’m just happy she’s doing what she wants to do, and I feel fortunate I can work fulltime and still have three-day weekends,” he said with a smile. “I’m doing what I set out to do: a family practice seeing pregnant ladies, children and adults, and working with my wife in a small-town practice. We’re living out our dream.”
