Brothers D


BLOOD BY DWAIN HEBDA PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES MOORE


r. Caleb and John Piatt didn’t start out with a career in medicine in mind, let alone wind up working for the


same hospital. But some things are just meant to be. The duo, who grew up five years apart in


O’Fallon, Illinois, chose medicine almost by accident, starting with Caleb. “I was a football and baseball player in high school and ended up getting a schol- arship to play junior college baseball,” Caleb said. “Throughout the sports stuff, I had my own set of injuries which kind of piqued my interest in medicine. That’s when I started looking into medicine as being a potential opportunity. One thing led to another and ultimately, I felt led to pursue the medicine route.” Caleb, 32, finished up his undergrad at Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas, prior to completing medical school at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri, and residency in Dayton, Ohio. While in Dallas, John took an interest in his baby brother’s studies. “I graduated college in 2008 with an accounting degree but once I got out into the field, I quickly realized that wasn’t the kind of job for me,” John said. “I was working in sales after that and I really wasn’t happy with it because I didn’t feel like it fit my skill set. “After talking with Caleb quite a bit when he was pursuing medicine, it got me into the idea of going that route as well.” John, 37, made the decision to enroll in Des Moines University in Iowa and


pursue a master’s degree that would al- low him to work as a physician assistant. During this process, he and his wife lost their newborn, Malachai, which steeled his resolve even more. “That was a big thing that drove this home for me,” he said. “We had a lot of good people around us, medical profes- sionals, and I wanted to be there for peo- ple facing something similar and try to help them in tough situations like that.” As for both brothers landing at Ozarks


Healthcare, the story begins with Caleb interviewing for jobs following residency. Coming from a small town himself, he was impressed with West Plains and the op- portunity to build a practice in an area that offered his children the chance to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment. “For me, working in a small communi-


ty, I feel like your staff members as well as your patients feel a little bit more like fam- ily,” he said. “It’s more close-knit. I wanted a situation where I could be engaged and involved in the community and my wife and I both felt like this was just an awe- some place to raise the kiddos.” In the process of interviewing, Caleb found out Ozarks Healthcare was hiring physician assistants, news he passed along to his brother. John also liked the commu- nity and jumped at the chance to work in Ozarks Healthcare's emergency depart- ment in 2019, followed by Caleb in the or- thopedics department in 2022. “When I started doing my clinicals in the master’s program, I did a month working in the emergency department,”


14 | OZARKS HEALTHCARE | FALL/WINTER 2022 “A lot of our life is interconnected at this “


point, which is honestly really nice because


we haven’t had family around for the 10 years that my wife and I have been married ... It was


kind of a convoluted way of getting here, but we’ve both been very thankful and pleased the Lord


brought us all together.” - Dr. Caleb Piatt


John said. “I didn’t know if it was some- thing that I was all that interested in ini- tially, but once I did that month, I liked the variety of it. It was pretty fast-paced, which I liked. It’s cool to experience a lot of different things, and that’s what you get in the emergency department.” Since landing in West Plains, the two brothers have relished the opportunity to spend time together. Both attend the same church, both are struggling to take up golf and their families see a lot of each other as well.


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