Dr. Donald Kammerer of the Albert Lea Medical Center is a finalist for the Minnesota Family Physician of the Year Award, but he said knowing patients and colleagues nominated him is more rewarding than the award.

Each year the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians looks at nominations from patients and colleagues, and Kammerer said the award is given to show appreciation and to promote family medicine.

“It all starts with your patients recommending you, and that’s the really neat thing about this,” Kammerer said. “I think the neatest thing is that they thought enough to take the time to write a letter. A lot of times people say, ‘He’s a good guy,’ or ‘She’s a good person.’ To sit down and write the letter is different.”

Other family physicians from Albert Lea have been nominated in the past, and Kammerer was also nominated last year and made it to the final six.

Once a doctor is nominated, the MAFP requests additional letters of recommendation from patients. Those responses are used by MAFP board to choose who will receive the award, Kammerer said.

“I think they’re looking for a physician who still sees the full spectrum of family medicine: kids, women, older people and younger people — sees a variety of conditions,” Kammerer said.

As a family physician, Kammerer sees a variety of patients with varying conditions and ages, while other fields deal with a specialty.

“It involves taking care of the majority of problems with all ages and both sexes over the course of a full lifespan,” Kammerer said.

“We’re trained to take care of 90 percent of problems.”

Kammerer said he sees about 15 to 20 patients a day, and his typical day starts at the hospital, where he sees hospitalized patients. He starts seeing patients at the clinic around 8:30 a.m.

“The interesting thing about family medicine is each room you go into there’s a different problem,” Kammerer said.

While Kammerer said he enjoys the variety of patients, he also said he likes being able to treat and get to know a family.

“I liked the idea of being able to treat the whole family,” Kammerer said. “You can see the kids and the mom and the dad, and I’ve been in Albert Lea long enough I’ve been able to treat families for three generations, actually a couple four generations.”

Kammerer, who has been in Albert Lea since 1982, said he’s developed relationships and trust with his patients.

“I think the main advantage of treating a family unit or generations of families is that you learn to know them. There’s a trust level that’s developed,” Kammerer said. “I’m sometimes surprised that people will be seeing another physician, maybe in an emergency room, and they’ll come in within a day or two to see if that’s really what they should do.”

Kammerer said he almost always agrees with the other physicians, but it shows the relationship he has with his patients.

The award will be presented at a dinner April 16, but Kammerer said he will know beforehand, so he can be sure he goes to the event if he wins.

Kammerer said winning the award would be a nice recognition, but he doesn’t think it would change him.

“I view myself as a person just like anybody who comes through the door,” Kammerer said. “I’m not anything special because of the schooling I’ve had or anything like that. I’m a regular Joe. I think people like that.”

Kammerer said he’s thankful to his wife and family, his nurses and other medical center staff, the patients who nominated him and God.

“This is really a great honor already, and if I don’t win, that’s fine,” Kammerer said.