Walking in his father's footsteps

Dr. Bobby Jibben learned the back roads of Stoddard County at an early age, riding along with his father on house calls -- unheard of nowadays, but routine for a small town physician in the 1960s and 70s.

"He had a big black doctor's bag in the back of the car that held everything he needed," Jibben recalls, "and when he'd get a call, we'd take off. Oftentimes it was to deliver a baby. He let me drive him to house calls when I was 15. I'd usually watch the farm animals and play outside and keep busy, and when I heard a baby crying, I knew it was almost time to go home."

Jibben's father, the late Dr. Robert Jibben, was a Dexter physician also and a household name in southeast Missouri.

The late Dr. Robert Jibben is shown at left late in his career at his Dexter clinic.

In 1968, when Dexter Memorial Hospital opened its doors, Dr. Robert Jibben was selected to serve as Chief of Staff. Forty-seven years later, history repeats itself as his son, Dr. Bobby Jibben, assumes the same role at what is now SoutheastHEALTH Center of Stoddard County.

"It's both a working and an honorary position," he explains. "I'll be involved with all the workings of the hospital up front and behind the scenes. I'll be serving on various committees and I'll be involved with the recruitment of doctors for the hospital staff. It's a challenge that I'm looking forward to."

The younger Jibben finds himself walking many of the same paths these days as his father walked, and he is quick to credit lessons Robert and Noemy Jibben taught him as a child of the 1950s.

One of those valued lessons was recognizing the value of a dollar at an early age, and he never expected rewards without effort.

"I remember my dad used to get antibiotics and other common dispersed medications in giant jugs that contained 5,000 pills. I was always into biology and catching all kind of critters and bugs, and I really needed those jars. I was assigned to count the pills and put them in little bottles as a kid so that I could use the jar for my collections."

After college graduation, when he was accepted to medical school, he took his acceptance letter to a local bank and asked for a loan.

"We didn't expect our parents to pay our way through school in those days," he explains, so I went to what was then Dexter National Bank, and I talked to Jerry Boyd," he recalls. "I told him I needed a loan for school, and he asked me what I had for collateral. I told him all I had was me. He asked if I had a life insurance policy, and I didn't, but I left and walked down to New York Life and got a quote for a $100,000 policy. The premium was $75 a month. I went back and told Mr. Boyd, and he asked if I bought the policy. I told him no, I couldn't afford it, but that if he'd loan me the money, I'd go get it. He did."

Like his father before him, Bobby Jibben is a home body at heart. Following his undergraduate work at Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville and then medical school at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, he completed his residency in St. Louis and went to work providing emergency services in the city. He was never quite at home in the city, though, and when an opportunity presented itself for a move to practice medicine in Sikeston, he seized it.

"I love working in emergency situations -- the pace and the quick judgements that are involved," Jibben explains. "That's my first love."

As a young physician, Bobby Jibben was adamant that he would never have a family practice.

"I saw how busy my dad always was," he recalls. "I saw him leave a lot of family dinners and special occasions when the phone would ring. I remember hitting my first home run and looking out to see my dad's approval, but he was headed for the car on an emergency call. I didn't want that."

Jibben would get a taste, however, of his father's work when he worked in the metropolitan area of St. Louis after his residency.

"I delivered hundreds of babies," he says. "When I first witnessed the miracle of birth, I realized right away why my dad did what he did."

When another opportunity arose about 12 years ago to open a practice in Dexter, Jibben knew it was the right time to come "home."

He and his wife, Laurie, a nurse practitioner, opened up a family practice in Dexter's Liberty Center where he found himself doing his father's work.

Today both of the Jibbens practice medicine in the new medical office building affiliated with SoutheastHEALTH.

"I come to work every day, and I see friends -- people I went to high school with --parents of friends and children of friends. It's a unique situation, and I'm very happy doing what I do."

Jibben is also at "home" on the football field. When he moved back to the area, he took on the task of serving as Dexter School District's athletic physician. He can be spotted on the sidelines of every home and away game of the Bearcats, donned in his alma mater's red and black. Again, he walks in his father's footsteps, as the senior Jibben served in the same role decades ago.

"It's something I absolutely love doing," he says. "I've made a lot of friends over the years working with the players, and it keeps me young!"

So many of the former and present Bearcats have shown their appreciation over the years that a room across the hall from Jibben's office at SoutheastHEALTH was designated to house the plaques, photos, jerseys and other memorabilia gifted him.

Jibben prides himself as being a "common sense" doctor. He follows a word of advice from his father -- "Always listen to the patient."

"No one knows the patient's symptoms better than the patient," he notes. "I let them talk, and I give them all the time they need, and above all, I don't make judgements about people who walk in the door. I see too many people doing that these days."

At 62, Bobby Jibben is old enough to recall the days when bartering for medical treatment was not uncommon, when a visit to his father's clinic cost all of $14 -- including the cost of a couple of prescriptions -- and patients would pay that amount off in installments.

"You can't 'cook book' medicine," the legacy doctor says. "You've got to spend time with every patient. They know best what they need. You just have to listen."

The son of Dr. Robert Jibben has been listening for 35 years. As the new Chief of Staff at SoutheastHEALTH, he'll be listening yet a little longer.