About Dr. Michael Borger
42 Years in Family Practice Medical Care
Dr. Michael Borger was born in Kirksville, Missouri – the birthplace of Osteopathic Medicine. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was two years old, and he grew up in the Cleveland-Akron area of Ohio. A keen interest was music. He studied Hammond organ, sang in a Capella choir, and often played organ in church. He led many jazz and rock bands in the Akron area during high school and college years.
Dr. Borger attended the University of Akron, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a Certificate in Social Work while taking all science courses needed for acceptance at Medical School. While studying at university, Dr. Borger had broad experience providing one-on-one counseling at a Methadone Clinic treating heroin addicts. During this period, he also extensively studied empirical research methods and helped design complex statistical research projects.
Dr. Borger was accepted at Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, completing his degree work and graduating in 1977. He received the Doctor of Osteopathy degree and was awarded a Special Certificate of Achievement in Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy. He then completed hospital training at South Bend, Indiana and entered Family Practice at Nappanee, Indiana. He later was Board-Certified in Family Practice and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment by the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.
He practiced medicine at Northwood Family Medicine from 1978 to 2019. Dr. Borger was one of the original members of the Board of Advisors for the Still National Osteopathic Museum at Kirksville, Missouri 1979-1980. Dr. Borger served as City Medical Director, Nappanee Emergency Medical Services from 1980 to 1985. He was recipient of the Physician of the Year Award from the Indiana Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in 1981 for his work advancing education and certification for Indiana Emergency Medical Service personnel.
Dr. Borger’s practice consisted of Family Practice all ages, Industrial Medicine and Emergency Room, Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy, and Health Promotion. During his years in practice, Dr. Borger often served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Practice and taught senior medical students from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine, Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Borger retired from active practice in 2019 and now serves as an author, teacher and lecturer in great demand.
Dr. Michael Borger married his wife Bonnie in 1978. They have enjoyed 43 years of marriage so far and cherish every day together. They raised two daughters, Mary and Maggie, who are married, and each have two grandchildren with their wonderful husbands. The Borgers have a passion for working out, good music, quality movies, exotic cooking, and do their best on foot to keep up with their three Australian Cattle Dogs: Cowgirl, Adelaide, and Brisbane. Dr. Borger continues to play piano at church and works on music projects using organ, synthesizer, and Native American flute.
Dr. Borger now is traveling widely to lecture and teach the principles of Self-Referral Medicine. He is open for contact to arrange lectures and teaching events. He looks forward to working with future Self-Referral research projects, leading the Self-Referral Medicine Group, and writing future books and instruction manuals in an effort to reform medical practice.
The Impact of Donald R. Hinton, D.O.
A Personal Note by Dr. Michael Borger
Donald R. Hinton, D.O. was my mother’s brother and my uncle. He heard of Nappanee after medical school and set up practice there in 1951 – the year I was born. He was one of the original General Practitioner physicians who did everything – complete medical care for all ages, delivering babies, in-office surgery, and full care of hospital patients and assisting surgery on their own patients. Today’s physicians would be swamped by the day-to-day duties of these post-World War II doctors. They did it all and did it magnificently, without breaking a sweat.
Above and beyond his medical duties – which were very demanding – Dr. Hinton was among the mightiest warriors fighting for the recognition and practice rights of Osteopathic Physicians – D.O.s like me and all the others who followed up to this day. He was a powerful force in the Indiana State Osteopathic Association and at the national level in the American Osteopathic Association. He fought tenaciously and unceasingly for improving the quality of Osteopathic Medical School education and the practice rights of D.O.s to participate as equal partners with their M.D. colleagues. In today’s world, D.O. and M.D. physicians are legally recognized as equal colleagues in the practice of medicine with equal licensing and recognition for hospital privileges and membership in professional organizations across the board. It would never have been this way without Donald R. Hinton, D.O. and his fellow D.O. warriors.
Dr. Hinton and I practiced together from 1978 to his retirement in 1997. I am grateful to Dr. Hinton for so many things. Of all that I am grateful for I thank him for this: in the sense that he was my mentor in medicine, he made me. He also brought me to Nappanee and helped me establish my practice. He partnered with Dentist Dr. Jerry Lentz to build the Northwood Professional Associates building in which we practiced.If you ever saw me doing anything right, I doubtlessly learned it from Dr. Donald R. Hinton. I worked for years to integrate everything he taught me with what you find at this Website and in the book Self Referral: Maximum Health. As I work to bring this knowledge into the world, I think he is pleased.
Snapshots from a Life in Medicine
Medical practice began for Dr. Michael Borger in July 1978. The majority of time was spent rendering patient care in the office. The practice was a large medical clinic equipped with X-Ray and Emergency Room. Family Practice was about 75% of the patient load, while Emergency Room accounted for 25% of the work done.
Family Practice patients were seen for all common medical conditions. Routine care include upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, and other respiratory problems. Many patients needed management help with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, heart rhythm problems, asthma, seasonal allergies, weight loss, high cholesterol and triglyceride, hypertension, and diabetes. Other common patient problems included skin conditions like eczyma, post stroke, kidney disease, substance abuse, and G.I. disease.
The practice had a large segment of Worker Compensation injuries. There are many manufacturing facilities within driving distance of the clinic. That made Dr. Borger a common provider for industrial medicine patients. Patients would come in every day to obtain medical care for injuries that occur on a manufacturing line. Those included strain and sprain injuries, lacerations, fractures, foreign object in the eye or skin, and treatment of burns and inhaled caustic substances. We excelled at the medical care rendered, but a big additional part of the job was to daily work with companies and their employees in our care. Matching up work restrictions and troubleshooting related challenges was a critical part of our daily work.
As an Osteopathic physician, Dr. Borger offered the additional dimension of advanced musculoskeletal work. People outside an Osteopathic medical practice might assume that OMT and other manual therapy would be limited to patients who had experienced bone and muscle trauma. Those people did get manual treatment, but there is often a musculoskeletal dimension to nearly every aspect of medical care. People with asthma often need treatment of the thoracic and cervical spine and ribs. The same is true of other conditons; there is nearly always an Osteopathic aspect to medical care that comes into play.
A keen interest in community affairs and promoting public health led to involvement with training of the city Emergency Medical Service personnel. At the time that Dr. Borger entered practice, five EMTs were in the midst of upgrade training from Basic EMT to Advanced Cardiac Technician EMT, one step below Paramedic. Dr. Borger volunteered to train the city Emergency Medical Service personnel. Later he was appointed the first Nappanee City Medical Director of the Emergency Medical Service 1978 through 1985. In that period Nappanee EMTs progressed from Basic EMT to Advanced Cardiac Technician EMT – and the department had made plans to complete training for full Paramedic. That was an important progression for rural medical services at that time. Dr. Borger participated in multiple training programs for EMTs from all over north central Indiana. As a result of his work, Dr. Borger was given the Physician of the Year Award by the Indiana Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in 1981 for his dedicated work to improve Emergency Medical Services.
Dr. Borger served for decades as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Practice and Assistant Clinical Professor of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment. Over the course of his career he was affiliated with Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine. In that capacity he played a major part in the medical education of scores of young doctors in training. He was able to share his practical skills as well as teaching the knowledge that became SELF-REFERRAL/MAXIMUM HEALTH.
Another key interest was health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Borger became convinced early in his medical practice that improvements in care were needed. He came to see healthcare as either being “disease approach oriented” or “health promotion oriented.”
Most physician-based healthcare tends to be disease oriented – that is, focusing on identifying and managing disease. The health promoting care tends to be rendered by non-physician personnel like nutritionists, physical therapists, and counselors. Stretching the conventional limits of standard Family Practice, Dr. Borger strove to discover the patient’s complete health status and, once health challenges were identified, he worked hard to fully engage the patient in their own care.
A critical part of this style of care was working with non-medical aspects of their lives that were impacting their health. That included care more typical of a Social Worker or Pastor than most physicians. Working in this fashion, he was often able to get more comprehensive improvement in the patient’s health than that seen in more standard medical care. Going the distance produced good results.
Dr. Michael Borger 1978
Dr. Michael Borger with Patient 1978
Training EMT Personnel 1979
Aligning X-Ray 1979
Performing Surgery 1983
Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment 1988
Patient Care 1990
Northwood Professional Associates Building 1978-2014
Always Seeking Ways to Help Others Find SELF-REFERRAL/MAXIMUM HEALTH
Evaluating X-Rays 1992
Complete Health Evalution is Critical
Teaching Self-Referal/Maximum Health 1996
Circle of Care Health Promotion Project 1998
Counseling Patient 2013
Working Together we can achieve
MAXIMUM HEALTH !
Changing Course to Deliver Better Medical Care
Dr. Borger decided early in his career to change how he approached medical care. Critical of common medical practices, he called the superficial, rapid-fire medical that is still so common “Band-Aid Medicine.” What does that mean?
That approach to medical care quickly identifies a problem, slap a band-aid on it, and get on to the next patient. While that increases the volume of patients seen per day, it seldom renders the kind of medical care that helps people get their lives on course for a better health future.
People often have chronic conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol handled in this rapid-fire manner. They are told “your sugar is high,” or “your cholesterol is high,” given a short list of do’s and don’ts, and given medication to take with a follow-up appointment to test for results. The patient’s full ability to participate in their own care and improvement are seldom engaged in this kind of medical care.
Many doctors do refer patients to dietitians or other ancillary personnel, but this is not the most effective answer. There is no substitute for the one-stop shop: where the same person diagnoses the problem, educates the patient on the problem, prescribes for the problem, and follows up to monitor the problem. How can this be done?
Complete Health Evaluation is Critical
Using the HEALTH STATUS model described at this Website, Dr. Borger worked with patients to design a complete health evaluation. That includes EKG, Chest X-Ray, key laboratory tests, urinalysis, and any other testing that might be indicated by the patient’s history. The patient schedules testing and makes an appointment for meeting with the doctor after all testing results are completed.
At the time of the follow-up appointment a complete physical examination is performed for a thorough evaluation of the patient’s current health status. Everyone receives a thorough physical examination. Specific testing for men includes a rectal examination. Women would need a pelvic and breast examination.
Making a Plan for Health is Critical
Afterward, Dr. Borger would meet with them to review the results. All testing results would be reviewed including EKG, Chest X-Ray, and laboratory testing. Any findings of the physical examination would be explained and needed actions discussed.
Critical to this moment is to MEET THE PATIENT WHERE THEY ARE. They may be worried, or they may think they have nothing wrong but they actually have big problems. The doctor must build bridges with the patient and find common ground for good communications and get to work.
With all the above complete, we had a complete HEALTH STATUS established on that patient. If any problems needed correction with medication, we would prescribe what was needed. If surgery was indicated, we would schedule it. If follow-up workup was needed, we would arrange it. Some people needed referral to a specialist for various reasons.
You Are NOT a Victim!
The important goal is to help the patient understand that they are not just victims. They have actions they can take to improve things. Changing health for the better will take dedicated effort, but if they are willing to take charge and move forward you can guide them into a better future: improved SELF-REFERRAL leading to MAXIMUM HEALTH !
If the patient checked out 100% healthy with no problems, reschedule for 1 year with review of healthy diet, exercise, and advice on supplements. Such people are already close to MAXIMUM HEALTH and only need broad guidance rather than the intensive work people with chronic conditions need to regain their health.
It is when you discover a chronic condition or other health challenge that you must focus on intervention. This is a critical moment in medical care. Everything must be put aside and complete attention given to educating the patient about what has been found. Nearly always there are critical changes they must make in diet, exercise, stress reduction, and so forth to improve the situation.
The vast majority of common chronic conditions like hypertension, obesity, and diabetes will either come under control or even disappear if people just make the necessary changes to correct matters. And never forget regular follow-up to maintain accountability.
The Heart of Self-Referral/Maximum Health
The heart of Self-Referral/Maximum Health is to recognize that the human body has everything it needs to create health. The job of physicians and patients alike is to identify what we can do to restore health through restoring Self-Referral.
