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Dr. Shanthi Satyanarayana, who often shortens her last name to Satya, retires today, ending her private practice located at Mercer Health's Community Medical Center at 950 S. Main St., Celina.
CELINA - A family physician known for her compassionate care of patients that extends beyond the walls of her office is ending the medical practice she founded at Mercer Health's Community Medical Center.
Dr. Shanthi Satyanarayana - which she shortens to Satya - a primary care provider and internal medicine physician, retires today after tending to scores of patients - in many cases generations of family members.
"She has served the community for almost 40 years and she's a very special lady, has done magnificent on behalf of all of her patients and the community. I know her patients will miss her," Mercer Health CEO Jon Dingledine said at last week's hospital board of governors meeting.
Satya, 75, said not only is she retiring, but so are the bulk of her dedicated staff of five nurses and two secretaries, who want to travel and spend time with their grandchildren.
In addition to her staff's desire to enjoy the fruits of their decades of labor, another factor weighed in Satya's decision to retire from her beloved profession.
"I'm in a private practice. The Medicare reimbursement is very bad. The overhead is too much," she told The Daily Standard.
Satya said she will miss her patients terribly.
"I enjoyed working," she said matter-of-factly in her office, against a backdrop of now mostly empty book shelves, a few pictures, including one of her smiling alongside former President Bill Clinton, and a vase of flowers gifted by a patient. "Even on the weekends they call me at home and I take the calls."
Her husband, Dr. M.R. Satya, also proudly provided Medicare care to local patients. He was a cardiologist in Celina for 27 years and worked in the Mercer County Community Hospital emergency room from 1981 to 1984. Lastly, he was in charge of the cardiac rehabilitation program at the hospital, where he helped patients recover from heart issues.
M.R. Satya died at 66 on Aug. 28, 2014.
"We came to Celina in 1986. We came because my husband was working in the Coldwater emergency room," she said. "He was working in (the) Coldwater hospital prior so we felt this could be a good place for us to live and raise a family."
M.R. Satya was indeed right, she said, noting the couple enjoyed a good life in Celina, where they raised their daughters Gowri and Lakshmi.
"We built our life and our careers here," she said. "We were lucky to be part of this community. Even after he passed away over 10 years ago, I kept working. The support from my patients and from all of my colleagues, doctors, nurses, my office secretaries helped me keep going."
In some cases, she looked after three generations of family members over the course of her career.
"It has been an honor to care for so many families over the years and privilege to work along the side of such dedicated doctors and staff. I will miss the work," she said.
Though retired, Satya said she hopes to be able to work part-time in health care.
"I might visit my mother in India for a month," she said.
Satya grew up in Bangalore, India.
"My father was in the navy. He was an engineer," she said. "Mother, she was a housewife."
Satya has fond memories of growing up in India.
"I still have contact with my friends, elementary school friends," she said. "They're in the U.S., India, all over the world."
She said she knew she wanted to be a doctor when she was a teenager.
"To help the poor, treat the patient," she said. "I get satisfaction when they improve. … In COVID time we lost about eight patients. I was very sad. Devastated."
Both Shanthi and M.R. graduated from Mysore Medical College in Mysore, India.
"I came (to the United States) because of my husband. We got married and came here. He was a cardiologist at Mercer Health and he worked at (Good Samaritan Hospital) in Dayton," she said. "I wanted to learn more, more training, more qualifications - and make money, too. Without money it's hard. … I went to medical school in India, then came here and did my training at Wright State in Dayton, my residency in Dayton. I worked there for one year in Dayton in private practice, group practice, and then we moved here because of my husband. He worked in (the) ER and thought this was a good community."
She said it took intense study, sacrifice and a lot of discipline to become a doctor. All of those attributes were imparted in her daughters, who would grow up to be as successful as their parents.
Satya set up her private practice in an office at Mercer Health's Community Medical Center at 950 S. Main St., Celina.
She saw as many as 40 patients a day at her practice.
"I had the highest care. I had a lot of empathy," she said. "We have to have empathy and kindness. I sit there and talk. We discuss their problems, and we are all like one big family."
She followed a well-established routine dealing with her patients.
"I like to come at the same time and enjoy my patients, sit and talk to them, not only about their illness, their family life, personal life," she said. "At least five minutes I ask, 'How are the kids doing? Where are they? Where are they working?' I have patients coming from Lima, Spencerville, North Star. They've seen me for years. Rockford, Mendon. I have a few patients from Van Wert."
Those connections have a painful side, too. She said she feels deeply for her patients when they are diagnosed with diseases such as cancer.
"Thinking about them, sometimes I can't sleep. I feel so sad why at this young age they're having this," she said.
In such cases, Satya directs patients to specialists.
"There's so many cancers in this area," she said, adding that she also treats patients suffering from heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, urinary infections, hypertension and high cholesterol.
Satya is proud of her family, including her brother, who works as an electrical engineering professor at Arizona State University.
"He's third top in the world," she said, beaming with pride.
Her two daughters also have thriving careers.
Dr. Gowri Satyanarayana, followed in her parent's footsteps. She's the medical director of the Transplant and Oncology Infectious Disease Program at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where she diagnoses and manages infections in cancer and transplant patients.
According to the hospital, she is a nationally and internationally recognized thought leader, educator and board-certified infectious disease physician. She completed her infectious diseases fellowship at Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School and completed an additional year of advanced, sub-specialized training in transplant infectious diseases fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School.
Satya's other daughter, Lakshmi Davar, is associate counsel at UPMC Health Plan, which is a part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division, in Pittsburgh. She graduated from the Ohio State University and earned a law degree cum laude from Capital University Law School in Columbus.
Lakshmi's husband, Dr. Diwakar Davar, is a translational medical oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburg. He has a clinical focus on cutaneous malignancies and a robust background in immuno-oncologic drug development, according to UPMC.
"I have two grandkids," Shanthi Satya added. "They will be six and four. They both are smart kids already. He knows about planets and everything."
