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leaving to see more patients at the hospital before heading
home for family time.
“I still make house calls and I have dropped off prescriptions
for patients who couldn’t make it in to the hospital,” he says.
And if that isn’t enough food on his plate, Dawkins is
quite the public orator. He speaks as a role model to local
students, lectures community groups on health issues and
speaks to numerous church congregations, who often mistake
him for a minister.
A 20-handicap golfer, Dawkins tries to play once a month
and likes to practice at the driving range. Each weekend he
attends his church and plays soccer with his friends.
A deeply religious man, Dawkins recently gave a eulogy
at the funeral of a patient. “It religion helps me to deal with
the emotional aspects that come with the problems many
patients face,” he says. “I have attended many, many funerals.
That is when you realize you are a guide and we follow
the patient through the whole spectrum of life. Patients will
compliment me. My advice to them is to pray for others that
success in treatment continues.”
Twice each year the family goes on vacation — one trip
within the United States and one outside. Dawkins wants his
children to see all of the country’s the family has been to the Great FORT
national parks, and so far
Smoky Mountains, Grand
Canyon and Yellowstone national parks and the Niagara
Falls National Heritage Area. They have also visited Jamaica,
Canada and the Caribbean.
But the five working missionary trips he has made to Belize
were anything but vacations. “We bring medication samples
and set up a walk-in clinic,” Dawkins says. “It helps me appreciate
that we have to help someone in much more need
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than we are. The appreciation and gratitude makes me feel
the sacrifice of becoming a physician is well worth it. If I can’t
go, I give financial support.”
When asked if he would like to be that doctor with the
small bag in a small town, Dawkins beams his trademark
smile with a gleam in his eyes. “My priority right now is seeing
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my kids start college,” he says, dodging the question, but
the look on his face says he likes the idea.
“There is a shortage of general practitioners locally and
nationwide. Specialty medicine is more lucrative when you
consider the cost of your education. Money was not my main
reason for going into medicine. It was helping people. No one
will say they have ever seen me not smiling.”
We live in the community
We work in the community
Joey Miller, center, began St. Lucie Battery & Tire nearly 40 years ago as a side business
to his farm stand on Orange Avenue Extension in Fort Pierce. Folks could get tires and
batteries when they stopped for their eggs and milk. Today, with sons Doug, left, and
Mickey, right, Miller oversees seven St. Lucie Battery and Tire stores on the Treasure
Coast, stretching from Vero Beach to Palm City. You might not be able to pick up eggs
and milk when you visit one of his stores today, but you’ll feel like family.
The Home of Honest,
Reliable Service.
317 Orange ave
FOrt Pierce, FL 34950
(772) 489-3977
6911 SOuth u.S. One
POrt Saint Lucie, FL 34952
(772) 466-1814
198 uS highway 98 n
OkeechObee, FL 34972
(863) 357-2431
3992 Sw bruner terrace
PaLm city, FL 34994
(772) 219-0100
1893 90th ave
verO beach, FL 32966
(772) 569-7629
5500 Orange ave
FOrt Pierce, FL 34947
(772) 461-1746
We support the community
Visit us online www.slbatterytire.com
7 Locations on the Treasure Coast!
new LOcatiOn! 4455 Se cOve rOad, Stuart, FL 34997, (772) 872-7375
Name: Dr. Dwight Dawkins
Age: 39
Family: Wife, Narine; daughter,
Gabrielle, 11; sons Dwight Jr., 9,
and Daniel, 4
Occupation: Family physician
Education: B.S. Biology, Florida
Atlantic University; University of
Miami Medical School; residency at University of Florida
What most people don’t know about me: “I like country
living. I travel to Tennessee and I see people living very
simple lives. Actually, I hope to one day be able to do it. In
the long run, I want to be able to enjoy the simple things in
life. One of my best vacations was visiting Idaho.”
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/www.slbatterytire.com