M-W grads provide health care while giving back to the community

Monroe - As colleagues in the Monroe Pediatric Associates in Monroe, three medical staff members also share a common background as graduates of the Monroe-Woodbury High School. Staying close to home while serving the health care needs of the region’s youngsters are physicians Jamee Goldstein, class of 1991; Danielle Dziedzic, class of 1994, and Evan Harawitz, class of 1996. Thirty-four year old Goldstein said she decided on a career in pediatrics at the tender age of three. Her inspiration for medicine was the pediatric group’s senior partner, Alan Harawitz, who is also one of the founding members of the practice. “I had pneumonia three times before I was eight and Doctor Harawitz treated me. He let me look through his microscope at my blood and let me listen to my sister’s stomach,” Goldstein said. “ I adored him.” Goldstein said her goal in medicine is to “inspire children to be healthy and I hope I can teach them to lead a healthy life.” What she said she didn’t expect and what surprised her during her four-year career with the group is the difficulty with insurance companies. “I didn’t expect it to affect the kids. It’s really frustrating when I want to treat kids, do lab work and radiology and I can’t; the companies won’t let me.” Thirty-one year old Dziedzic said she believes the Monroe-Woodbury schools prepared her for college and medical school by giving gave her a wide variety of classes and sports activities. Prior to medicine, she worked as a physical education teacher but left teaching due to an injury. She noted that both as a phys-ed teacher and in the medical field, “you’re still involved in the lives of the kids.” In making the transition from teaching to medicine, she said “There was a lot of sacrificing but it all worked out for the better.” At thirty, Harawitz is the youngest of the trio and the son of Alan Harawitz. He believes experiencing the diversity of students at Monroe-Woodbury provided him with an understanding of “dealing with the diverse population in the small-community setting” of the Monroe area. He credits his father’s relationship with members of the community as his inspiration for entering medicine. “When out and about he would know many residents on a friendly basis” he said. As one of the larger pediatric practices in the region, the Monroe Pediatric Associates also has a lengthy history in Monroe. The office was originally opened by retired founder, Arthur Goldstein, in 1966 working from his home on Lakes Road. Alan Harawitz joined the practice in 1975. The office now provides the services of six doctors and has grown into a spacious commercial building on Gilbert Street.