Her route to running the practice wasn’t an overnight one. She was working on the doctorate for continuing to teach at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh when she realized that much as she loved teaching she wanted to do direct patient care. She worked for a health center for nine years. Then a physician she worked with suggested she start her own practice. But she still considers herself an educator.
“Every patient I see I teach,” she said.
Originally her shingle said “Internal Medicine.” That confused some people. Now her specialty is the health care of women and children over age seven.
“I treat the whole patient and the whole family,” she said. The sign now reads, “Quality Health Care Close to Home.”
LaRocco also does physical exams at Pine Bush High School. She does Botox and fillers in collaboration with the Pineapple Day Spa down the street (consultations are complimentary). They have a podiatrist and a psychologist who also does reiki, and a nephrologist will be joining them, LaRocco told me. The location, a beautifully decorated office near two senior citizens’ homes, is a bonus.
Although running the business can be a handful, LaRocco wouldn’t have it any other way. “Until you do it, you just don’t know,” she said, “but I would not have done anything differently. I’m happy. I enjoy my job. I’m doing something of service to the community.”
