GLOSTER &045;&045; A special bond is sometimes forged between physician and patient &045;&045; a bond that not only facilitates the goal of healing, but also yields the rich reward of a lasting friendship.

Dr. Charles Laramore, now 80, retired and living in Gloster with his wife, Sarah, had occasion to celebrate such a bond when Leandes and Evelyn Ancor visited last week.

&uot;You’re not just our doctor and our friends, but you’re our loved ones,&uot; Evelyn told the Laramores as the group sat around the dining room table, feasting on seafood lasagna, shrimp patties and a Hawaiian wedding cake the Ancors had prepared.

Laramore first met the Ancors at his New Orleans practice in 1970. They were shrimpers from the remote fishing village of Grand Bayou in Plaquemines Parish.

Evelyn was a diabetic patient.

&uot;They are a very loving and very generous people. Every time she would see me in the office she would say ‘How is my doctor?’&uot; Laramore recalled.

Laramore began traveling by boat to visit the Ancors and soon started treating other Grand Bayou residents, most of whom were not accustomed to a doctor’s care.

&uot;Leandes’ father never had a doctor. If he cut his hand, he would treat the wound with spider webs and kerosene,&uot; said Laramore, who quickly came to appreciate the resourceful nature and devotion among the people of Grand Bayou.

&uot;It was a different world there. The old man could navigate at night by the moon and stars.

&uot;They were special. They treated me with respect as a physician, but they also cared about me,&uot; he said.

Laramore said there is a pervasive lack of confidence and appreciation between doctors and patients in today’s medical world.

He remembered a brilliant young doctor who once treated emergency room patients at a New Orleans hospital.

&uot;She was sued so much that she quit her practice and went to law school … Patients used to trust the opinions that doctors gave them,&uot; he said.

Laramore closed his private practice after 38 years in 1989.

He continued to work as a consultant in the chemical industry until his retirement in 1996.