A Dose of Caduceus

The sounds of the 1930s and 1940s are alive and kicking with Caduceus-The Doctor’s Band.

The 19-member big band with a big heart celebrates its 25th anniversary this year playing jazz and swing ensembles for a cause: raising money directly for nursing scholarships and helping charities bring out crowds – and their wallets – for fundraising events.

“A lot of doctors play golf or do something else. This is our distraction,” said Dr. Rod Geter, Caduceus president and the band’s piano player.

Formed in 1989 by a group of then-independent Smith Glynn Callaway physicians, the band grew from a recreational passion project to a 501(c)3 nonprofit officially registered with the Missouri secretary of state as Springfield Music Foundation Inc. With a board of directors and an average of 12 gigs a year, the band now comprises medical professionals – including nine physicians – mostly at Mercy and CoxHealth, as well as full-time paid conductor Bill Hartman and hired vocalist Jana King Evans. The band also hires substitute instrumentalists for gigs as needed, given the busy nature of the medical profession.

“Throughout our history, we’ve been mostly physicians or related to the medical field,” said Bill Hennessey, the band’s drummer and treasurer, noting an attorney and certified public accountant also fill out its ranks.

Named after the famed symbol that has grown to represent the medical industry – two serpents wrapped around a staff – Caduceus charges $1,000 to $1,500 for such events as weddings, anniversaries and private parties, but reduces its fee when asked to play fundraising events for other nonprofits.

“We don’t want to be taking money they could be using for their event, so we cut our fee in half for them. In that way, we feel like we’re actually contributing to their fundraiser,” said Geter, a physician with Mercy Clinic Plastic Surgery.

This spring, Caduceus charged the Springfield Art Museum $500 to play for its 85th anniversary celebration, said Hennessey, regional vice president for marketing and communications for Mercy’s central region.

Community volunteer and museum event co-chair Irma Leidig said the late 1920s-themed gala raised $45,000 in nondesignated funds for the museum. Leidig first saw Caduceus play at a dance about 20 years ago, and she said for the art museum donor crowd, the band was a good fit.

“They certainly contributed to the success of the night. Many of the old-timers came and danced the night away,” Leidig said. “Everyone I spoke to, and I circulated the whole night, they just loved the band.

“If we have another gala, I would use them again.”

On Monday nights, old friends and bandmates meet for practice at Springfield Catholic High School. A cacophony of sound fills the band room as brass instruments set the stage, playing the whimsical sounds of bygone eras. In between songs “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” the band members toss jokes at one another. But when Hartman says go, it’s all business.

“We have a director who just doesn’t let us get away with anything,” Geter jokes.

Geter, who helped found the band and originally directed it, attributes the band’s longevity, in part, to conductor Hartman, who was brought on in the early years and is the only member paid on a regular basis.

“He used to play with the Stan Kenton Orchestra as a trombone player, and he’s taught at SMS, and now MSU, for well over 30 years with jazz bands, so he was a natural for helping us. For some reason, he likes us, so we’ve had a nice relationship for a long time,” Geter said, noting other band members donate their time and skill.

After band upkeep costs, all proceeds are funneled to local hospitals for nursing scholarships. The Springfield Music Foundation distributes three needs-based scholarships a year of upwards of $1,000, Hennessey said, noting the nursing schools at Mercy and CoxHealth handle the selection of scholarship recipients.

“Our reason for existence as a nonprofit is to give back to the community, and one of the ways we do that is through nursing scholarships,” Hennessey said, pointing to gigs through the years for fundraising events held by The Kitchen Inc., CASA of Southwest Missouri and the American Red Cross, as well as a Desert Storm tribute for returning troops in 1991 and a Joplin concert for Mercy workers after the destruction of its hospital in the May 2011 tornado.

Hennessey estimates Caduceus has helped raise over $1.5 million for nonprofit fundraisers and nursing scholarships.

The band, which most recently played to a line of Springfield Cardinals ticket holders on Aug. 16 for Mercy night at Hammons Field, has a private wedding anniversary on the docket Oct. 11 at Chateau on the Lake in Branson.

It’s music that would be right at home on an NPR radio broadcast, in a World War-era ballroom or filling the streets of early 20th century New York City and Chicago.

“The big requests we get are big band swing music. There’s nothing more fun for us than when folks hear the music and get out and start dancing,” Hennessey said.[[In-content Ad]]