Ozark Profile : Bain visits with patients, follows father’s footsteps
Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008
Andrew Bain spends a lot of time visiting with his patients at his dental office in Prairie Grove. He admits it. His staff teases him about it.
"He goes out of his way to make his patients feel comfortable, and sometimes we run behind because he loves to talk," Cindy Rieff, Bain's office assistant since he opened his own dental practice in 1986, said.
Bain, 38, admits he aggravates his staff by talking so much with his patients, but this helps lower stress for both the patients and doctor. He gets to know a lot of interesting people, too, he said.
"You develop a relationship with these patients," Bain said. "Life is all about relationships."
Relationships can span generations. Some of his earliest patients are starting to bring in their kids.
"In a small town like this, it's not uncommon to see generations of patients," he said.
Bain said he recently saw a longtime patient of this father, Calvin Bain, who opened his dental office across the street in the 1950s. Before he was in high school, Andrew was a lab tech and dental assistant to his father.
He and his brother, John, both followed in their father's footsteps and worked in his office. Andrew built a new office, and John later moved his practice to Farmington.
Andrew always wanted to be a dentist, but he admits the job is stressful and challenging.
"It's a lot harder work than I thought it would be," he said.
Calvin Bain led by example, showing care with his patients and serving as mayor for 12 years beginning in 1961.
"He's one of the people I admire the most for his civic mindedness and care with patients and family," Bain said.
He also appreciates the local visionaries that established the Battlefield Park, which he considers to be a big part of the city's charm and success. He called the late Donald Parks "one of the most civic-minded folks I've ever been around."
Civic service
Bain served as an alderman before being elected mayor in 1994. Prairie Grove public works director Larry Oelrich has worked for six mayors during his 29 years with the city. He said Bain was an "excellent mayor" during more than six years in office.
"He could easily wrap his mind around problems and understand issues even if they weren't things that fell under his normal scope of expertise or training," Oelrich said.
"He was informed and involved in everything the city was doing but let his department heads have the ability to do their jobs and take care of their areas of responsibility without interference," he said. "He was a great team player and worked well with the other alderman, as well as the city employees, to accomplish goals."
Oelrich said the purchase of Rieff Park and the development of the facilities there, including the aquatic park, was probably his greatest among many accomplishments as mayor. The park now includes completed baseball facilities and a paved walking track.
A youth park facility was one of the long-term goals his father mentioned for the city in his retirement speech as mayor, Bain said.
During his tenure as mayor, the city also accomplished these other goals:
- Renovated its library
- Purchased the old post office, where a children's library was later built
- Built a recycling center and began offering curbside recycling
- Renovated its water treatment plant
- Purchased and renovated the water department building
- Doubled its size by annexation
- Connected to a regional water system
- Lowered its ISO fire insurance rating
At home with his girls
Bain retired as mayor in 2001 because he bought 60 acres and built a new home outside of the city limits, where he now raises 40 head of cattle and several horses.
He and his wife, Amy, have two daughters, Isabella, 9, and Gabriella, 7. The couple makes time for a date night at least once a week to go ballroom dancing. He loves to cook at home and travel with his family.
"Most of my life revolves around my kids and wife," Bain said.
'Handy Andy'
Bain has a reputation as someone who can fix anything. He once started a computer repair business and, even though he did not advertise, he had to give it up because he got so much business it interfered with his dental practice.
"We call him 'Handy Andy" because he can do most anything," his father said.
His dad doesn't take credit for teaching his son how to fix things.
"It just came natural, it seems like. He has a very analytical mind," his father said.
"I don't like to give him a big head, but we never have to call a repairman. He can fix anything," Rieff said. "He is a perfectionist in all aspects of his life, which makes him a great dentist and sometimes gets on our nerves."
Playing guitar
Bain also spends time perfecting his ability to play the acoustic guitar.
"That's sort of taken the place of being mayor," he said.
He puts a lot of effort into playing guitar with the praise team at the United Methodist Church.
Before he learned to play, he helped praise team leader and friend Patrick Hall pick the music and plan worship for an early service the church started less than two years ago.
After talking three lessons from Hall, he taught himself to play. He admits he spends a lot of time playing his guitar. He practices at the office before work and during lunch. He sometimes plays in the basement at home, but his wife encourages him to play outside the home.
Musical skills did not come naturally for Bain.
"We were nonmusical. We couldn't carry a tune. He taught himself ... " his father said.
Bain enjoys playing the guitar and is content to play only in church. He has no big plans to play clubs or parties.
"I'd be real boring at a party because all I know are praise and worship songs," he said.
Special treatment
Bain gets special treatment at his favorite local lunch spot, Colonial Courts Cafe, where he eats items not on the menu that are made specially for him because he's allergic to beef and pork.
"He gets stuff that other people don't get because he's Andy," Bernice Headrick, a long-time employee at the restaurant said. "I write his name on the ticket and put a question mark, and Erma (Matthews) will fix him something. He has to hide it sometimes. Everyone else gets jealous."
He never pays before he leaves. She puts his tickets in a bucket and, every two or three months, she adds them up and sends a bill to Cindy.
"He's spoiled, but that's all right," Headrick said.
He's won the cafe's weekly's drawing for a free lunch more than anyone else — 43 times since 2000. Headrick insists the drawing is fair. He comes in the most, so he's got the best chance of winning, she said.
She's known him since he was in school and says he's not as shy as he used to be.
"When he first came back, he was shy. He came in here and broke loose," she said.
She said he is honest, truthful and very smart.
"If I was ever on a game show, he's the one I'd call," she said.
Serious student
Anyone who knows him very well, comments about Bain's above-average intelligence.
At the urging of one of his Prairie Grove school teachers, he attended Fayetteville High School where he could take accelerated classes and study foreign languages.
In the 1970s, students rarely changed school districts. His father supported the move because he knew the importance of his top-notch education at University High School. His father's own "good grounding in basic education" made college and dental school much easier, he said.
Bain took classes at the University of Arkansas during his senior year, which was uncommon during the late 1970s. He graduated first in his class in high school, college and dental school.
"I was a very serious student," Bain said.
At 15, he spent the summer in Mexico with the family of a foreign exchange student who had previously stayed with his family. Bain attended the International University of Saltillo, where he studied Mexico's history, customs and literature.
Over the years, his family served as hosts for several UA students from foreign counties, including Mexico, Bolivia, China and India. He and his family have formed lasting friendships with exchange students, he said.FEEDBACK:
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