Before leaving the office to visit a homebound patient, Tony Ohotto, MD, gathered a few necessities: his stethoscope, medical notes, and a pair of well-worn bicycling shoes. Dark clouds threatened rain, so Ohotto packed a rain slicker before hopping on his 10-speed. Kevin Callahan, a certified occupational therapy assistant, joined him for a 15-minute ride to their patient's home, a residential care facility in Southeast Portland. "When you roll up on a bike, it gets you some street cred with patients and caregivers," says Ohotto, a geriatric specialist and staff physician at Providence ElderPlace, a program that provides healthcare, housing and other services for older adults. Through good weather and bad -- and despite the social and professional pressures favoring car transport -- Ohotto and Callahan have found on-the-job bicycling to be eminently practical.
