House calls, just part of the job

Barbara Diamond

When was the last time you remember a doctor making a house call?

Never? Well, say how-do to part-time Sleepy Hollow Walk-in Clinic

doctor Stan Wasbin.

“A lot of primary care medicine can be done in homes,” the general

practitioner said. “There is a need, especially in older folks who

have a problem getting out of the house when they are sick, or have

difficulty driving or getting a driver and then sitting in an office

where everyone is coughing.”

Wasbin began making house calls after assessing the needs of

patients and being asked. Clinic patients would call and say, “I am

so sick, can someone come and see me?”

“It makes them feel secure to know I’ll come,” Wasbin said. “There

is so little customer service in medicine these days. It’s almost a

void. But I have been a patient as well as a doctor.”

Wasbin grew up in the Irvine area where his family moved from

Massachusetts when he was 10. He graduated from UC Irvine and earned

his medical degree at Marquette/Medical College of Wisconsin in 1985.

He lived in Laguna Beach in the early 1990s and worked at the

Laguna Beach Community Clinic where he met Dr. William Anderson, who

opened the urgent care facility at 364 Ocean Ave.

Wasbin began working at the walk-in, family clinic in 1993.

“I have treated a lot of Laguna Beach patients over the years,”

Wasbin said.

Wasbin said treating patients at their homes gives a doctor a

better frame of reference and is much more rewarding.

“It’s warmer, more personal, Wasbin said. “You end up picking figs

in the patient’s backyard and you get paid for it.”

For more information, visit web site https://www.scHousecalls.com

or call (949) 202-Stan (7826).

FANTASY-TASTIC

Laguna’s more fun way to shop for the holidays paid off.

While Wal-Mart reported fewer than expected shoppers on the Friday

after Thanksgiving -- traditionally the biggest retail day of the

year, the Sawdust Festival’s Winter Fantasy showed increases.

“We were up 8% [Thanksgiving weekend] and up 5% for the entire

show so far,” event organizer Lynne Powell said.

Original arts and crafts by 173 artists are attracting shoppers.

Kids are kept happy playing in the five tons of snow delivered daily

and visiting Santa’s house in the center of the Town Square area, the

life-size gingerbread playhouse or the Children’s Art Space that

offers rotating craft project geared to 4- to 10-year-olds.

For a really unique gift, festival patrons can get one-on-one

instruction at the ceramics wheel or at hands-on workshops in

printmaking, silk painting or oil painting and other fine arts. All

projects are complimentary.

There is almost nonstop entertainment. Three cafes and a saloon

provide sustenance for the all the activity.

Winter Fantasy opened Nov. 20 and has this weekend and next to go.

Repeat customers are expected.

“We has an increase in season passes that allows customers to come

back as often as they like,” Powell said. “Many of them turned in

their day passes and paid the little bit extra to buy the season

passes.”

Adult admission is $4.50, a season pass only a dollar more.

Children, 6 to 12 pay $2; 5 and under are admitted free.

Winter Fantasy is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more

information, visit https://www.SawdustArt

Festival.org or call (949) 494-3030.

* DOING BUSINESS is a periodic feature of the Laguna Beach

Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Mail to Barbara Diamond,

P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; fax to (949) 494-8979;

hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22; or call (949) 494-4321.