Local Doctor Recognized for Patient Care

When a 75-year-old patient of Dr. Anthony Ciardella was sent to the hospital because of chest pains, physicians found nothing wrong with him.

Although they wanted to discharge the man after a day, Ciardella wouldn't have it. Ignoring warnings that insurance wouldn't pay for more tests, Ciardella insisted his patient receive a CAT scan. That day, physicians found a blockage in his heart and they operated immediately.

"It turns out he was on the brink of an aneurysm, and if he went home he probably would have died in his sleep," Ciardella said. "I just knew him well enough over the years to know he wouldn't complain of pain unless something was really wrong."

It's that kind of personal, committed care that recently won him the honor of being named one of Connecticare's Doctors of the Year, as well as the first annual William A. Petit, Jr., M.D., Physician Service Award. Both recognized Ciardella's commitment to patient care including standards like communication with patients and his ability to provide high quality medical services like preventative care.

Ciardella said he was surprised and honored to receive the awards for something he admits he does naturally and enjoys: talking to his patients.

While more and more medical offices are likened to a fast food chains, syphoning patients and out as quick as possible, Ciardella has garnered attention for his dedication to his patients.

"My philosophy is not to rush through patients - I love to get to know them and I enjoy my interactions with them," Ciardella said. "I tell my students, the school teaches you how to take care of patients, I teach you how to take care of people."

Aside from his private internal medicine practice, Ciardella is the associate chief of medicine at the Hospital of Central Connecticut; serves on the the hospital's board of directors; is medical director of Visiting Nurse Association of Central Connecticut’s hospice program and of the Summit at Plantsville; and is an associate clinical professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

"Tony is what we call a 'doctors' doctor,' because he really embodies what it means to be a physician from his level of knowledge, to his professionalism to his compassion and commitment in the hospital and to the community," Hospital of Central Connecticut Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Steven Hanks said. "He's one of our superstars here, I can't say enough about him."

A New Jersey native, Ciardella worked as a pharmacist for four years before he sensed he wanted to do more in the medical field. He earned his medical degree from New Jersey Medical School, Newark, N.J., and completed his internship and residency at UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

In 1983, he was recruited by Bradley Memorial Hospital in a Southington - a town he had never heard of - and was charmed by its quaint, small-town feeling.

"I was really welcomed in Southington, and the community has been good to me ever since," Ciardella said.

In 1987 Ciardella married his wife Susan and raised their three sons in town. They have 11 grandchildren living in Colorado. Ciardella credits his wife for giving him the support and encouragement to accomplish his goals.

"Any success I've had has been since I met her," Ciardella said. "couldn't have done everything I've done without her."

Supported by a nurse, nurse practitioner and UConn medical students, his office cares for about 100 patients a week. Ciardella said he most enjoys teaching and encouraging students to become a primary care doctor. He said because of the current insurance system, more students are becoming specialists.

"It's sad because specialists are paid four times as much and work about 50 times a week than a general practitioner who works about 70 hours a week," Ciardella said. "Our medical system is designed to have the paradigm that everybody is the same, we're just a scientific bag of chemicals and that's how we treat people."

Not one to think about retirement, Ciardella, 64, said he plans to continue working in the foreseeable future, while hopefully continuing humanitarian work in other countries.

Last year, Ciardella helped coordinate a medical mission to Haiti in which he and other hospitl staff members cared for earthquake victims, and he's visited Mexico four times to provide medical care.

"Retirement is not in the works," Ciardella said. "I would love to go back to Mexico as soon as I have time."