* Locations: Chattanooga (6734 Lee Highway, 325 Market Street), Hixson (1005 Executive Drive), Ooltewah (5243 Little Debbie Parkway), Cleveland (3760 Ocoee Place), Dayton (163 Walnut Grove Church Road, Suite 101), Kimball (24 Mountain View Drive), Ringgold, Ga. (4630 Battlefield Parkway), Dalton, Ga. (1506 North Thornton Avenue)
* Staff: The practice includes six double-board-certified physicians and 11 family nurse practitioners who treat infant, pediatric and adult patients.
* History: Launched in 1975 by Dr. Hyman Kaplan, Chattanooga Allergy Clinic claims to have treated about 130,000 patients.
* Quotable: Dr. Marc Cromie, CAC's president/senior physician, says that when it comes to being an allergist, Chattanooga is a target-rich environment. "We live in a bowl," he says, adding that the Chattanooga area has the "second-most species of pollinating trees in the world, so our pollen count is always enormous."
Seasonally, Cromie says, tree pollen is peaking now and will hang around until May or June, when it gives way to grass pollen. Ragweed arrives in August, he says, and stays until the first frost. "Then it's the indoor allergens," he adds. "We've got a lot to be allergic to in Chattanooga."
Cromie adds that CAC's doctors are not only double-board-certified in allergy and asthma, but in immunology as well. "It's not just overreacting to pollens," he says. "It's also weakened immune systems underreacting to bacterial infections."
* Online: chattanoogaallergyclinic.com