Mixter’s history in the medical field is extensive. He received his medical degree in 1965, interned and spent his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, set up health programs when he spent two years in the Peace Corps in Korea and started at Exeter Hospital in 1972.
Korea RPCV Dr. Charles G. Mixter III, MD to retire
Skilled physician with bedside touch
By Adam Dolge
adolge@seacoastonline.com
Caption: Dr. Charles G. Mixer III, of the Exeter Surgical Association, is retiring on July 31. Photo by Jamie Cohen
EXETER - After serving nearly 33 years as a surgeon in Exeter, publishing 10 medical articles, creating a device used in gallbladder surgery that’s internationally used and giving countless lectures, Dr. Charles G. Mixter III is taking off his surgical gloves and retiring.
Mixter, of Exeter Surgical Associates, prides himself on patient care and public health.
And it’s his attention and care that will make his patients miss him.
"He was wonderful," said Gerri Bruneau, whose husband John has been going to Mixter for the past three years. "Not only with the medical side, but with the emotional side, he’s been fabulous. Anytime we needed him he was always there."
Mixter is a general surgeon and specializes in gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. He was the first surgeon in the area to perform such procedures and performed the first colonoscopy in the state.
Even though he is retiring on July 31, he said, "I’ll likely keep my hand in some sort of medical practice."
Mixter’s history in the medical field is extensive. He received his medical degree in 1965, interned and spent his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, set up health programs when he spent two years in the Peace Corps in Korea and started at Exeter Hospital in 1972.
His great-grandfather was the first full-time surgeon in Boston, he said. His grandfather and his grandfather’s brother were both physicians; one covered New England south of Boston, the other north of Boston.
On Wednesday, Mixter recalled his time in Exeter and how the technology of medicine and surgery has changed patient care. When he started at Exeter Hospital, he said, he was impressed with the hospital’s technology and equipment.
He remembers when he first started that very few, if any, surgeons and doctors specialized, so he performed all sorts of surgeries including Cesarean sections and neurosurgery.
As years went on and doctors began specializing, he found an interest in GI and technology. But he is also a supporter of pre-emptive medicine, or taking over-the-counter medications such as Ibuprofen to forestall the need for major narcotics or surgery.
"A lot has changed in medicine," he said. "Like ulcers, they were usually treated with surgery, but now they can be treated with medicine."
He said that in the mid-1980s, before the boom in personal computers, he created a program for his office that kept patients’ medical records. It was his friend Dr. James Tucker who inspired him to design such a program. He said at that time Tucker had built and designed his very own computer from the circuit board up.
Tommie Levesque worked with Mixter when she was the director of medical records at the hospital. "He was always good, and timely, and that was important," she said.
She worked with him for about 25 years, but her first encounter with Mixter was when her son, Edward Jr., 44, was 16 and was in a motor-vehicle accident. Her husband Edward has also been a patient of Mixter’s for several years.
"He was a very attentive physician, very caring," she said. "He’s a good person to know, and he has a great sense of humor, but he’s also very compassionate."
She said she was upset to hear he was retiring. "I feel badly about his retiring, badly because I think it’s premature. It just would have been nice for him to be around longer."
Mixter said he was impressed with how many patients came in to say good-bye, wrote letters, or called him to tell him they’d miss him.
"It’s extraordinary how many came in to say good-bye. Some go back to 1977, and I will definitely miss those people."
