HockeyDoc's
Personal Information
My name is Robert R. Baber, aka HockeyDoc©. How did I get that name? It's a nickname I received due to the fact that I have a very bad addiction to playing both roller and ice hockey, and I AM GOING TO BE A PHYSICIAN!
Hockey and medicine are two very major facets of my life. Hockey because I enjoy the physical activity of the sport and it's something my best friend Tony and I have learned and improved on together. But medicine is probably the most influential motivation in my life right now as I do not go one single day without feeling butterflies in my stomach at the idea of someday being called "Dr. Baber" and being able to help someone escape disease.
I am 24 years of age, married (June 3, 1995) to my beautiful wife Kimberly (aka Kim, Kimbo, and a few others), and we live here in Fresno which is located in the San Joaquin Valley of California. We've made it pass our first year of marriage, and we've had our problems, but I can't believe how the time has flown - it seems like yesterday we were walking down the aisle.
There have been some additions to our family: in July of 1995 we got a cat which was tiger-striped and champagne-colored so we named her Korbel (after the champagne brand name - picture to come). And most recently, in June of 1996 I finally got my own dog! Yes, my dream dog! We got a female black Labrador retriever and we named her Cinder, after the black ashes in the fireplace (picture to come soon too). This was a special treat for me as I love dogs so much - they're much more a member of the family than a cat, but that's my opinion.
I have attended California State University, Fresno since the fall of 1990, so it has felt like I've been in school forever. Upon admission to CSU Fresno, I was a marketing major/advertising minor hoping to join the ranks of those "Oh what a feeling..." ad campaign writers of America. But alas, I have this weird inclination to tell the truth to people and could not continue with my endeavour as a business major. So after two and a half years of school I walked up to my now pre-med advisor and said, "I want to go to medical school!"
So it is now the summer of 1996, and I have graduated from the Department of Biology with a B.S. in physiology with a minor in chemistry, and I am one of the many "desparately-seeking-acceptance" pre-med students hoping to attend medical school sometime in the next two years. I took the MCAT on April 20, 1996 and I did fairly well, I got national average scores on the Physical Sciences and Verbal Reasoning portions (I wish I had done better), and a good score on the Biological Sciences. When I graduate from medical school, I hope to match with an emergency medicine residency here at Valley Medical Center (and no, it's not because of NBC's hit t.v. series "ER"©) and become an emergency medicine specialist.
What do I do in my spare time? Well, besides playing hockey 1-2 times per week on my organized league team The Jaguars©, I have worked just about full time for three years as a phlebotomist ("vein cutter")/transporter/EKG & care technician at Valley Children's Hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Our unit is responsible for every type of case you can imagine: post-operative congenital cardiac defect (CHD)cases, ortho surgery cases, neurosurgery cases, traumas, chronic medical cases, as well as the acute floor status patients. My job is great and I wouldn't trade it for anything else right now! You can see the only active web page for Valley Children's Hospital created by one of our medical staff, Dr. Simonian.
In addition to playing hockey myself, I also coach a pee-wee roller hockey team with my goalie and good friend Tony Duran (who also works at Valley Children's). Our team is called the Junior Jaguars© and these kids are amazing!! Before we took over coaching the team, their record was 0-8-0, they couldn't win even one game and had no consistent coaching influence. When we took over coaching them for one season, they improved to a 2-2-4 record. Over the last six months, we've invested in a lot of practice sessions, and as a result, their most recent record (ending June 29, 1996) was 9-0-1!!!! They were undefeated with one tie and clinched the league!! Both the kids on my team and the patients at Valley Children's have made me truly repsect and admire the strength children have!!
Who's that handsome devil with the stick and skates? It's me... HockeyDoc!
