BREVARD COUTNY, FLORIDA – When Dr. William Broussard started his ophthalmology practice in Melbourne in 1967, no one was taking emergency calls at night in all of Brevard County. To him, that didn’t square with the commitment required of doctors.

“Part of your oath was you were going to take care of people. This did not relate to what time of day it was, what day of the week, or whether it was a holiday. You took care of them when they needed it,” Broussard said.

SINGING COWBOY Bill Broussard, pictured here at age 4, hails from ranching stock — the 10th generation of Southwest Louisiana cattle ranchers.

So he placed himself on call, seven days a week, 365 days a year. For three years.

ALLEN BROUSSARD loved roaming the area next to the family’s Crescent J Ranch as a boy, and when he became a Wildlife Ecologist, he came to understand its true value.

His career evolution is testimony to the observation that the more things change, the more they remain the same: Today, Broussard splits his time between seeing patients and maintaining his Osceola County ranch.

“I really work seven days a week,” he said, though clearly, both vocations are labors of love.

In addition to tending cattle at the Crescent J Ranch, Broussard spends time at Forever Florida, the adjacent 3,200-acre nature preserve he and wife Margaret founded in honor of their son. Wildlife ecologist Allen Broussard died in 1990 at the age of 29, after fighting Hodgkin’s disease.

“The reason why it’s there is he asked me to do it,” Broussard said of Forever Florida and conversations he had with his son during the final months of his life. “That’s keeping a promise.”

Crescent J carries out a conservationist mission, as well. The ranch raises Spanish Colonial, or Cracker, cattle in an effort to preserve the line. Spanish Colonial cattle are descendants of cattle brought to America by the conquistadors.

The ranch also boasts a herd of Cracker horses, another endangered breed that Broussard is working to save.

Growing Family, Practice

Broussard, who comes from a Louisiana ranching family, wasted no time acquiring the ranch. The couple moved to Florida in 1967, after Broussard completed military service in Germany, and bought the ranch in 1969.

THE BROUSSARD FAMILY IN 1972: Margaret Bill, Dianne, Lynn, Laura and Allen. Bill met Margaret in Louisiana, where her parents, both biology professors, worked. “Dad got a job teaching biology at the University of Louisiana, the Ragin’ Cajuns,” she says. Two of the Broussard’s four children were born while their father was in medical school at the University of Minnesota.

They had four children when they arrived and bought a four-bedroom, two-bath home for $29,000. Broussard even remembers the monthly payment – $198, including taxes and insurance.

Bill and Margaret in 1955

They lived there a few years, then built a two-story home in Satellite Beach, Florida in 1973. “We built that thinking, my gosh, we’ll never outgrow that. But we did,” he said.

His medical practice was on its way to outgrowing its space across from the hospital as well. After only two or three months in Melbourne, his schedule was booked solid six months out.

After three years, he invited a doctor he’d met while both were in residency at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco to join him in practice. Suddenly, he was on call only every other night.

The name of the business evolved with the growth, from William A. Broussard, M.D. P.A. to Melbourne Eye Associates, and finally to Florida Eye Associates, to reflect the practice’s offices in other Brevard communities.

The practice operates an ambulatory surgery center and office in Melbourne, as well as offices in Cocoa Beach, Viera and Palm Bay. A Port St. John location is on the way.

By the time Florida Eye Associates had grown to include five doctors, it was time for a larger main office. Broussard was interested in a building in Downtown Melbourne that had become available as a result of the savings and loan crisis. He offered $500,000 for the building but was told it had to be sold at a public auction.

HIGH ACHIEVER: In 1955 Broussard graduated at the top of his class at LSU (3.0 at that time was a perfect score) and was awarded the University President’s Award for Best Academic Record. At that time it was the third perfect grade in LSU’s 102 years of history. Above – As a Sophomore (above far left, white belt, scarf, citation cord and spats), Broussard was the founder and leader of the drill squad because they didn’t have one and he thought there should be one.

“So we bought it at public auction for $350,000,” Broussard said with a smile. “That was their minimum bid. We thought there would be a bidding war, and we were ready to go to $600,000.”

Florida Eye Associates moved to the building, at U.S. 192 and Hickory Street, in 1993. Subsequent expansions have kept up with the growth of the practice, which now includes 12 doctors and 117 employees.

Subspecialties have taken up much of the major surgeries in ophthalmology. Before that, Broussard performed Brevard’s first retinal detachment repair, corneal transplant and surgery on a child to correct crossed eyes.

President of HRMC Medical Staff

Two of the couple’s three daughters followed in their father’s footsteps and chose a medical career. Dianne studied neurophysiology, runs a lab and teaches at the University of Toronto medical school and Laura is an RN in Denver. Daughter Lynn worked in and then left a career as a CPA to run a counseling service.

DR. BILL BROUSSARD, and his wife Margaret, founded Forever Florida, a 3,200-acre nature preserve in honor of their son Allen, who was a wildlife ecologist and died in 1990 at the age of 29, after fighting Hodgkin’s disease. “The reason why it’s there is he asked me to do it,” Broussard said of Forever Florida and conversations he had with his son during the final months of his life. “That’s keeping a promise.”

Entwined with Broussard’s career has been the growth of what’s now Holmes Regional Medical Center. Broussard started his practice in an office across from the hospital’s current location, where it moved in 1962. At the time, it was called Brevard Hospital.

Those were the days before specialists in emergency medicine, so all specialties were required to take turns covering the ER. If, for example, a pathologist was working the ER when an eye case came in, Broussard would get called in. “It happened all the time,” he said.

When he served as president of the hospital medical staff, Broussard pushed for a better system. The hospital got interested, and eventually local physicians pursued specialties in emergency medicine. Today, specialists in emergency medicine staff the ER.

Broussard served as president of the staff an unprecedented four times, and pushed to extend the term of the position from one year to two. “In one year, you just really learn the ropes. In two years, you can get something done,” he said.

Great Brevard ‘Smoke Out’

Among his proudest accomplishments is getting cigarettes out of the hospital. “Everybody smoked,” Broussard said. “Doctors smoked, the patients smoked, nurses smoked.”

Dr. Bill Broussard, pictured here confering with Janette Ernest, is the founder, president and CEO of Florida Eye Associates.

The effort was accomplished in smaller steps: No smoking during staff meetings; Cigarettes were removed from the gift shop (the excuse was that they raised money for the volunteer program); and no smoking by nurses and patients.

Today, there’s no smoking on the entire hospital grounds, or any other Brevard County hospitals.

Broussard’s was one of the first doctor offices to prohibit smoking in the waiting room. “Some patients were very irritated by that,” Broussard said.

He remembers one patient who was told to put out his cigarette, and he threw the butt into the aquarium. As if he needed proof of the health effects, all the fish died.

Conservationist

Just as Broussard was convinced of the ill effects of smoking, he fears the consequences of the rapid development and land use issues he’s seen in Brevard.

“We have to have vision that includes: When do we stop this? There have to be significant amounts of land that are untouchable. You must protect water, protect wildlife. We don’t take care of anything until a building blows up. That’s the way we are,” he said.

Drawing water from the St. John’s River, as has been proposed, would be suicide, he said. The north end will become polluted, water will stop moving and saltwater will intrude further on the water system.

Conservation is a better approach, but Central Floridians have little motivation to use less water. “As long as it’s too cheap, it’s going to be wasted. People’s general attitude is, ‘If I can afford it, I can waste it,’” Broussard said.

He disconnected the irrigation system at his Riverside Drive home north of Indialantic more than 10 years ago, and landscapes with native plants.

Investing In People

In his practice, Broussard continues to live by the oath he took to help. He led by example in volunteering with the Brevard Health Alliance, the county’s health clinic, and many Florida Eye Associates physicians do the same.

“If a patient with complicated needs is referred to Miami and doesn’t have transportation, “we’ll take him there,” Broussard said.

He sees such generosity as an investment in people, and as building bonds that will yield loyal patients in the future. “In my opinion, you come out ahead doing that,” he said.

At 76 years old, Broussard plans to continue serving as president and CEO of the company as long as he can. Expect him to take the same approach to work at the ranch.

“I like the balance,” he said.

This article provided by Space Coast Medicine: Dr. Broussard Pioneered Eye Care In Brevard