BY DAVE PEMBERTON
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Very few people can say they are qualified to be both a pharmacist and a doctor. There are even fewer, who can say they owned a pharmacy and a doctor’s office. Nedra Downing, D.O. is one of them.
Downing’s career had all kinds of twists and turns, but one part is coming to an end. Downing is retiring on May 1 from The Downing Clinic in Clarkston, which she opened in 1991.
She started the clinic with one patient and helped it grow to an office which now serves over 2000 patients. Downing is leaving the patients in good hands. Her daughter Laura Kovalcik, D.O., who currently works at the clinic is taking over.
Handing over a practice to her daughter was not in Downing’s orginal plans. She originally was a pharmacist and owned her own pharmacy. While at that point in her life, she was inspired to become a doctor.
‘I was upset about the large amount or prescriptions,? Downing said. ‘People would come in, who smoked and ate poorly. They would get prescriptions with side effects and then get more prescriptions for the side effects. I was raised to eat good home cooking. I didn’t like to see people use unnatural chemicals to get well.?
Instead of just being upset by what she saw, Downing did something. She sold her pharmacy and began taking classes at Michigan State University. She earned her masters degree in human nutrition and then graduated from Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
After graduation, she worked at a women’s health center, and was considering going back to school again when her husband Howard and her mother convinced her to open her own practice.
‘I had a lot of support,? Downing said. ‘They told me to get out there and use what I know. They didn’t want me to go to school anymore. They pushed me into starting my own practice. In the beginning, it was scary because I didn’t know if it would work.?
Downing had to take out loans and put a mortgage on her house to start the practice. She wanted to help people get better without just writing them a prescription. She wanted them to make an effort to get better.
‘Some people just want a prescription. They don’t want to do anything to get better,? Downing said. ‘I want people to help themselves. I think the less medication people take, the better off they will be. I have an old saying that is, ‘If a person is deficient in think, the prescription should be to think. Not a prescription drug.??
During her years in Clarkston, Downing said she has cared for a wonderful group of patients, who wanted to get better.
One of the ways she liked to help patients was by writing different articles in a newsletter her office distributed. When she made the decision to retire, she let her patients know by writing a poem in the newsletter, which can be seen on page 13B.
Downing said she will continue to write for the newsletter once she retires and stay involved at the clinic. She is also beginning to market her own face cream called The Downing Clinic Moisturizing Cream.
The main reason for her retirement is so she can be free to visit her daughter, Margaret Tirkes, who lives in Dallas. Tirkes is expecting Downing’s first grandchild.
‘I want to be free to go to Dallas when I want to,? Downing said.
Tirkes, like Kovalcik, folowed in her mother’s footsteps and graduated from Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. It was the first time in the school’s history that a mother and two daughters all earned degrees.
Since Downing will have plenty of time to spend with her grandchild, maybe there will be another member of the family graduating from Michigan State.

Time

The time has come
the old one said
to look ahead to spring.

To walks with dogs
and naps with cats
and picnics on the porch.

To painting frogs
and steaming oats
and talking to the trees.

To watching clouds
and writing poems
and traveling to the sea.

To moving on
from indigo
to purple and magenta.

To learning to play
and tending the love
and reaching the higher self.

To finding the way
and time to pray
for each and every one.

To living the role
and giving the best
as grandmother-to-be.

To wishing you well
and seeing you soon
and never saying goodbye.

Nedra Downing, D.O.