The two hospitals were separated by just a few blocks, but they practiced medicine somewhat differently: Grove City was staffed by allopathic physicians (MDs), while Bashline was staffed by osteopaths (DOs). Those living in Grove City were staunchly loyal to one or the other; at the time of the merger, longtime Grove City resident and hospital board chairman Alvin Schell said that the difference of opinion was practically a political schism. “You were a Republican or you were a Democrat,” he told an Associated Press reporter. “You went to an osteopath or you went to a medical doctor.” Both MDs and DOs are physicians, but DOs view their practice as a more holistic approach to medicine, and to the patient. Today, about 90 percent of U.S. physicians are MDs.