FLEX Doctors’ Story

ANDREW PATTON, MD: Being from Shreveport, my wife and I are from here. So we always knew we wanted to come back.

STEPHEN COX, MD: Some of my patients have known me since I was 10 years old. I’ve had something that taught me — and that always inspires confidence in people that they’ve known you. They know what you can do, and that gives them also a sense of pride that you would come back here and be a part of this community.

MICHAEL ACURIO, MD: I grew up in South Shreveport. For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a doctor. I can put it in a nutshell and say there’s something to be said for coming home.

ELLIS COOPER, MD: I went to St. Joseph’s Elementary School, Loyola High School, about two blocks from our building here. I never lost the bug of this place and wanted to come back. And so in 2010, the right opportunity opened up, which was this place, this group — couldn’t resist coming back.

VAL IRION, MD: The surrounding areas — there’s not really a large metropolitan center, and so we draw from a lot of different areas, even into Texas and Arkansas.

J. MARSHALL HAYNIE, MD: We’re also specialists in our region. I know what you’re going through. I know what you’re feeling. I grew up here. That allows you to trust me.

VAL IRION, MD: We have roots here, and we understand what it’s like to be a Louisianan, or a Shreveport, Louisiana.

ANDREW PATTON, MD: I see patients — they’re either friends or sometimes they’re friends of friends, and it makes it more personal. Go to the grocery store and see somebody that you helped or you’re currently treating, and get to be a part of that — not just from the clinic setting, but also in the community.

STEPHEN COX, MD: The work that we’ve done over the last 10, 15 years, and the reputation that this place has built, has really helped us tremendously, combined with all of the trust that people have in us to begin with.