Looking more like one of the professional wrestlers he treated as a doctor for 13 years with World Wrestling Entertainment, Dr. Frank G. Romascavage, D.O., of Brodheadsville, values his uniqueness and independence. He doesn’t work as an employee of any medical center.

“I love what I do,” he said.

On Tuesday, Romascavage and his staff celebrated the 40th anniversary of his family medical practice opening on Route 209 in Brodheadsville.

His wife, Gloria, said: “My husband, Dr. Frank, is always ready to serve and care for all patients in the surrounding area. It has been a pleasure to care for generations of families, and I hope we can continue for a long time.”

A graduate of Pleasant Valley High School in the 1960s, Romascavage went on to college in Philadelphia, where he met his wife. He then went on to medical school.

He began his career as an emergency room doctor, but discovered he longed to know what happened to the patients he treated after they left his care.

“I loved emergency medicine, but you lose continuity of care with the patient,” Romascavage said. “I gotta know everything about what happened to them — follow up.”

So the couple bought some land in Brodheadsville, designed a house with his medical office attached, and his father, who was a contractor, built it.

“It’s been good. I have no complaints,” Romascavage said about his years practicing medicine in the area. “The best day is saving somebody’s life or redirecting them.”

Romascavage said he has helped people become healthier and improve their lifestyle, as well as helping those dealing with drug and alcohol addictions.

“I’ve been very true to my oath as a physician,” he said.

He reveres that philosophy.

“It’s just that idea of doing the right thing for humanity.”

His office isn’t fancy like the new construction springing up around the area.

He doesn’t have an answering service or computers in his office, and Gloria isn’t sure how many patients they have, but she estimates it to be in the thousands. Some of the them are not currently active, but she said she has had people move back to the area, call the office and ask to rejoin. She says yes, because they are always taking new patients, and she places their files back in with the active ones. Old school is how Dr. Romascavage likes it.

“I just wanted to be that old fashioned type of doctor, type of approach, which I do to this very day,” he said. “I make my house calls. When my phone rings at 2 in the morning, I talk to people. It’s old school; that’s how it is.”

Just like the doctors of old, Romascavage will even barter with patients. Gloria said that when he goes out on house calls, patients often send baked goods home with him.

“We have some very good bakers,” she said. “He gets fed well.”

In Gloria’s opinion, his best barter was with an old fellow who lived on a farm with a pond. Her son and daughter were children at the time.

Gloria said, “So Doc says, ‘Now we gotta square up on a couple things.’ You could see (the old fellow) was a little uneasy, and Doc says, ‘You got a pond. Frogs and toads would do good.’ So sure enough the next morning, there’s a bucket. He had frogs in it; he had toads and he had turtles, and our kids were thrilled.”

That summer, their children played frog Olympics with the amphibians, while the real one was going on in another part of the world.

“At the end of the summer, we released them into our own pond. That was by far our best barter. They were very well loved,” she said about the pets.

Doc and Gloria have been married for 47 years, and she has worked as a clerk and handling the billing since they opened the office. Romascavage said his wife “brings that motherly image in to the people who need that motherly approach.”

He’s the only doctor in the office, but there are a couple nurses.

“I’ve been blessed. I have two great nurses,” Romascavage said.

One of them, Debbie Bronson, said her mother, Connie Bronson, worked for him for 20 years as an X-ray technician. She’s retired now, but Debbie has been in the office for 11 years.

“We love it,” Debbie said about how she and her mother feel about working for Dr. Romascavage. “It’s family here.”

Romascavage said he doesn’t have any intention of retiring.

“I’m having fun with what I’m doing,” he said.

As for advice to new doctors just starting off, Romascavage said, “Do the right thing for the patient, be true to your oath, be true to your degree, and guess what, everything will follow suit thereafter — probably the best advice I could tell anybody.”