FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – Andrew DiCampo and Berger Winsome are your typical industrious and honest physicians who set out to build their primary care practice after residency training with lofty goals of healing the sick and contributing to their community.
Well, things got kind of rough. With the mounting pressure of medical school loans, higher disability and liability insurance costs and lower insurance reimbursements, DiCampo and Winsome were forced to think outside the proverbial box in order to stay afloat financially.
Well, actually, they thought of a box. And themselves, as two able-bodied young men with a penchant for hard work. After all, was each of them not already seeing 80 to 90 patients per day just to cover their practice costs? Moving heavy furniture and household items was mere child’s play in comparison. So, after a few weeks of planning and saving, they launched “Two Docs and A Box” with a single moving truck, a website, and a boat-load of elbow grease and determination.
A typical day sees these modern day supermen awaken around 5 AM to round on any hospital patients, then start their marathon office clinics at 7 AM. Clinic runs until 4 PM when they then switch out their white coats and stethoscopes for their moving company uni-tards and lumbar support braces. During their clinics and between patients, they check their online bookings and start coordinating their routes.
The average moving jobs can take between 4 and 6 hours and the team typically books 1-2 jobs per day. It’s not unusual for them to wrap up a full day around midnight, just in time to catch their meal of the day at the local diner. Then it’s rounding on any hospital patients and off to bed.
DiCampo, cautiously optimistic, states: “Although this isn’t what we signed up for, we’re making it work. We are working as movers so we can work as physicians and do what we love. It was close there for a few months at the office- I had to move into a van in our parking lot to save on rent. Which is an upgrade over Berger’s van down by the river. But, things are picking up and we hope to soon hire back our receptionist and nurses. In about five years, I think we’ll have saved enough to pay off our EMR system.”
Winsome adds: “We thank you for telling our story which is one of hope, not despair. We don’t want anyone’s pity. Except if it will help us book more jobs. I’m actually getting in amazing shape moving large pieces of furniture up and down stairs. After a few more months, we’re considering just wearing Speedo’s and bowties while we work (moving, that is) to attract the housewife/cougar demographic.”
Several area hospital corporations have already contacted the resourceful duo to purchase the moving business and employ the physician-movers if they choose to stay on.