Downtown Primary Care  And Botox Too ‘Dr. Jack’ Norris In The Limelight

By Terry Schmida

There’s no denying that the health care affordability crisis has impacted Monroe County disproportionately. The low-wage service sector dominates a local economy marked by a high cost of living, and few health insurance options.
But one doctor – who has wanted to live in the Keys for most of his life – is doing his best to serve Key Westers, utilizing an unusual and creative approach to balancing the books, while caring for patients.
John “Dr. Jack” Norris has served as a personal physician for adults in the Southernmost City, for the past 11 years. It’s a vocation Dr. Norris says is made possible by his embrace of Botox, that 21st Century cosmetic tool that brings budget-balancing dollars to his Key Lime Square practice, and smiles to his customers’ faces.
Some 50 percent of county residents are at or below the federal poverty level, Dr. Norris noted, making insurance, or out-of-pocket care of any kind in the Keys difficult to afford.
“So, I earn less,” Dr. Norris said. “And I started doing Botox, which subsidizes medical care around here.”
The son of a New Jersey eye surgeon, the Manhattan-born Dr. Norris Jr. knew from an early age that he wanted to become a doctor. And, by the time he was 17, that he wanted to live in the Florida Keys.
After graduating from the Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., and the New Jersey Medical School in Newark, N.J., Dr. Norris undertook an internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at the University Hospital in Newark, where he also worked as an assistant medical director, and taught medicine for a decade.
During this time, he was called upon by NBC Tom Brokaw’s, and the New York Times for his medical opinions.
However, Dr. Norris, who has five children of his own, never forgot the many vacations he took in the Upper Keys as a youngster, with his grandfather.
“Eventually I got tired of academic life,” he said. “I just wanted to run my own little office, and that’s what I did, at the end of the road.”
Though Dr. Norris, who counts his “beautiful fiancee” as a positive force in his life in the Keys, loves it down here, working in Monroe County has not been without its challenges.
“For me, the biggest issues here are that Obamacare doesn’t appear to be working,” Dr. Norris said. “And that there’s a real lack of resources in the Keys. “Not many cardiac surgeons or rheumatologists, and many of my patients don’t have the ability to get to Miami. So, there’s a lot of advanced disease here by the time they get to see a doctor, more emergency care, and patch work medicine. A lot more use of the hospital. It’s also hard for people to get in for same-day visits.”
Fortunately for Dr. Norris, he appears to have found a stop-gap solution in the form of Botox treatments.
“It’s my art and my pleasure,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to make wrinkles fade, while I’m dealing with very serious issues, such as people with cancers and heart attacks, with very few resources, in a place I love.”
Dr. Norris holds the American Medical Association’s Physician Recognition Award with Commendation for his continuing education.
Currently, his office accepts Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, Great West, Pacific Life, annuity insurance, Medicare, Wells Fargo and Blue Cross, and other insurance policies.
His office is located at 508 Southard St., Suite #103.
For more information, call 305-296-1022.
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