NATCHEZ — Dr. Rick Ricalde doesn’t want to be a specialist who treats patients with only an eye to his area of specialization and then sends them on their way without taking into account that the body is a single unit.

As the newly associated neurologist with Merit Health Natchez, Ricalde will treat patients with stroke, epilepsy, migraine and headache disorders, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, neuropathy, nerve pain and numbness, sports concussions and other neurological disorders.

Even though it’s centered on the brain, doing neurology work effectively means looking at the whole person, he said.

“I have found over the years that if you don’t check the person, you don’t get the best results,” he said. “I’ve known doctors who — when someone comes in complaining of foot pain — won’t check the pulse in the foot.

“But neurology is part of the whole body. If the rest of you isn’t working right, the part of you I am taking care of is not going to work the best it could — everything is tied together.”

Ricalde joins the staff of Merit Health Natchez after 18 years in private practice in Seneca, S.C. He’s filling a vacancy of two-and-a-half years.

Ricalde has a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School, and completed his residency in neurology at Tulane University Medical Center, which included serving as chief resident in his final year.

He later served eight years at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Keesler Air Force Base, where he was a neurologist and flight surgeon.

Before entering private practice, Ricalde completed a fellowship in neurophysiology at Tulane University Medical Center.

He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

He is also a member of the American Association of the Study of Headache, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Society of Neuroimaging and the Society of Air Force Physicians.

When he started his medical career, Ricalde had the goal of becoming a family practitioner. A neurology rotation was the last thing he had to do before finishing his first residency at Tulane, and while he was doing that, he “fell in love with it,” Ricalde said.

“I love that there’s always a puzzle to solve, and you learn from everybody who walks through your door,” he said.

“When a patient comes in, it ends up being anything, from pain in their extremities, numbness, strokes, epilepsy, even diabetes and heart disease — it’s a hugely diverse field.”

Ricalde said coming to Natchez to associate with a hospital after 18 years in private practice was the result of several factors. He wanted to be closer to family in his hometown of New Orleans, but changes in the medical industry made working with a hospital more appealing.

“The burden of doing private practice in this country has gotten to the point where most doctors I know want to be part of a group practice,” he said.

In addition to its proximity to home, what attracted Ricalde to Natchez was its openness, he said.

“With a lot of (hospital) systems, it is, ‘You take it that this is how we are, you are a cog in the wheel,’ and that is not how it is here,” he said. “I have also found that there is still a doctor-patient relationship here.”

Merit Health Natchez Director of Physician Outreach Sarah Smith said hospital officials knew immediately when they met Ricalde that he was the right fit for the job.

“With his skills and his demeanor, it was one of those things that you knew right away,” she said.

Merit Health Natchez Chief Executive Officer Eric Robinson said the hospital was extremely proud to add Ricalde to the medical staff.

“Our community is fortunate to recruit a neurologist of Dr. Ricalde’s caliber, and he will be a great asset to our medical staff and to our inpatient rehabilitation unit.”

Ricalde first started discussions with the hospital in May, and had made the decision by June 6. The move to Natchez felt a little bit like going home, he said.

“I have always loved Southern cities, and this city reminds me a little of New Orleans in the 1960s,” he said. “The people are the friendliest I have ever met. They don’t know who I am, and they come up and introduce themselves to me and want to know what and how I am doing.”

Ricalde’s office will be at Suite 201 of The Doctor’s Pavilion at 46 Seargent S. Prentiss Drive. He will maintain office hours Monday through Friday, and will accept new patients starting Tuesday.

His office can be reached by phone at 601-445-2248.