Meet the Physician: Dr. David Colvard

Dr. David Colvard is a pediatrician at the Infants’ and Children’s Clinic in Florence. Recently Valley Babies spoke with him about the things that are important to him.

VB: Tell us about your family.
Dr. Colvard: We have a big family – my wife Linda and I have been married for 26 years now, and we’re blessed with 5 kids. Our oldest, James, is a third year medical student. Our next one, Jennifer, is completing her masters in teaching English as a Second Language. Cara is a sophomore at Shorter College majoring in chemistry. Evan is a Senior in high school; he thinks he wants to major in engineering. Our youngest is Dustin, a 6th grader at Covenant Christian School.

VB: What do most enjoy about being a pediatrician?
Dr. Colvard: Meeting and interacting with the children and trying to provide them with the medical care they need.

VB: What is the best advice you can offer new parents?
Dr. Colvard: One of my wise, now retired, colleagues told me the best gift a parent can give his child is to love his or her spouse. Realize your child is a gift; the relationships you build with your spouse and with your children need to be given a lot of care. Too often we see situations where parents put their children at risk because of problems between spouses.

VB: You’re bilingual I understand. How does that impact your work?
Dr. Colvard: It impacts my work in a very positive way. It allows me to communicate with many patients in our area who speak only Spanish and provide them quality health care. I also help with a free clinic that meets in the Shoals area, La Clinica Cristiana which meets once a month at Highland Park Baptist Church annex. This is a free clinic staffed by nurses, doctors, translators, social service workers etc. We’ve been doing this for about 3 ½ years. It’s been a great asset for the area. On a given night we may have 30 – 40 patients. Many pharmacists donate time and resources as well, so we are able to give the medications or provide them low cost prescriptions. Area pastors and retired missionaries lead worship services prior to the clinic, and provide ministerial counseling there, also. The targeted service population is primarily uninsured Hispanic patients.

VB: You are involved in a project here that is close to your heart, tell us about it.
Dr. Colvard: One of the primary callings for any pediatrician is to be an advocate for children. Locally one of the avenues through which I find myself working is the Cramer Children’s Center, a non-profit center where children who have been abused emotionally, physically, or sexually come to be evaluated and be healed from their hurts following the abuse. It is a non-threatening, child-friendly environment where children can feel comfortable as they receive their investigative interview, their medical exam, and their counseling at no cost to the child’s family. Everything there is done from the position of advocacy for the child. I currently serve on the board of directors. The center is named in honor of Bud Cramer, the US Congressman from North Alabama who was instrumental in the founding of children’s advocacy centers nationwide in the 90’s

VB: How can others get involved?
Dr. Colvard: The Cramer Children’s Center needs our community support in several ways. First is financial. Since it is a non-profit agency, it survives on donations and grants. We currently face a crisis in that some of the funding that was projected from federal grants for next year has been reallocated due to the war effort, so we are in the midst of a fund-raising effort to try to support the center through this next year.

If you would like to give an end-of-the-year tax deductible gift to help support the Center, call 256-760-1140 or email the Center. Learn more at their website.