RISON - Dr. Sam Taggart, author of the book "Country Doctors of Arkansas" will host a reception next Tuesday, July 25 to honor Dr. Mark Attwood of Rison, one of the doctors profiled in the new book.
The reception will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cleveland County Library in Rison.
"Country Doctors of Arkansas" by Dr. Sam Taggart, is published by the Arkansas Times and was released June 15, 2021.
Dr. Taggart is a family doctor, raised in the White River Delta in Augusta, Arkansas. After medical school at UAMS, he completed a Family Practice Residency. He retired in 2013 as the senior partner and founder of Family Practice Associates of Benton.
In 2015, he created the Arkansas Physician's Oral History Project. As a part of this project, he went around the state interviewing country physicians to create a video record of their lives and the practice of medicine.
The lion's share of the book is based a series of interviews, recorded during 2016-2017, looking at the lives and practices of the small-town doctors of Arkansas over the last seventy years. The oldest physician profiled in the book is 98 years old and the youngest is 34. The book also chronicles several other Cleveland County doctors dating back to 1840. They include Dr. Calvin Stanfield, Dr. William Burnett, Dr. Henry Davis Sadler, Dr. Thomas H. Ackerman and Dr. George Ackerman.
The early chapters in the book begin the journey with a look at rural health and doctors in Arkansas for its first 150 years of our existence. The book then shifts its focus to the modern era of country medicine (1945-present). Dr. Attwood's profile is part of the modern era focus.
According to Dr. Taggart, in researching and writing this book he had the privilege to spend time with and interview many of the physicians in Arkansas, old and young, who have lived through parts of this history.
The oldest among these doctors were born in the 1920s and the youngest in the 1980s. The older physicians came of age during the Depression, lived through WWII, Korea and Vietnam and the Cold War, Polio in the 1950s, the Space program, the introduction of antibiotics, Medicare and Medicaid. They watched the introduction of sulfa and penicillin and the explosion of modern medicines. They experienced the evolution of medicine from almost exclusive solo practitioners to group practice to corporate medicine. They observed the introduction of birth control pills, the sexual revolution, and its ramifications. They were there for the introduction of technology to everyday life, from labor saving devices as diverse as clothes washers and dryers to the internet and telemedicine. They labored through the explosion of general information and, in specific, medical knowledge. They were born into a world of generalists and have seen this evolve into a world dominated by specialists.
For the youngest of these physicians, most of these events are remote past history; however, they are faced by new and daunting challenges such as drug abuse, AIDS, antibiotic resistance, obesity, high cost of health care, major end of life issues and COVID-19.
“Each little town has its own story with diverse characters and dramas. The physician is often the narrator, father confessor, the soul who is there for families from birth to death; the person who is called in time of need.
One of his principal traits is trust, trust to do the right thing, trust to be there when he is needed. Wisdom is another of those traits that sets them apart,” said Dr. Taggart.
“Each little town thinks of their doctor as the best diagnostician ever.”
Rison’s Dr. Attwood is the prime example of this.
In an excerpt of the book, Dr.
Taggart sets the scene for Dr.
Attwood by saying: “The telephone at the bedside rings three times; the doctor rolls over and picks up the phone, “Yes,” he says into the darkness.
“Doc, this is Lois, there’s something wrong with Larry, he’s real short of breath and his chest is hurting.”
“Can you get him to the office?”
“Yes sir, I guess so.”
“I’ll meet you down there in about ten minutes.”
Dr. Harvie Marks Attwood, a 5th generation Risonian; his great, great grandfather moved to Rison in 1865.
Mark has pleasant memories of growing up in Rison with a small-town atmosphere where everyone knew each other. Rison was known for its football teams.
Mark recently gave a speech at the yearly football banquet. “I spoke for about 15-20 minutes on the history of football in Rison. My father played at Rison, I played at Rison, and my two sons played at Rison. In Rison, you participated in everything; football, baseball, track.”
The family was heavily involved in the Methodist Church.
“My father was on the Board of Directors and now, I am the Chairman of the Administrative Board of the same church that my great, great grandfather helped found.”
Out of college Mark went to pharmacy school and then at age 26 went back to medical school.
Dr. George Ackerman, one of the pillars of academic medicine at UAMS, also a native of Rison, strongly encouraged Mark in his medical career. After medical school, Mark applied to the Area Health Education Family Medicine Residency in Pine Bluff with a glowing letter of endorsement form Dr. Ackerman.
Dr. Attwood excelled in his residency and when he got near the end of his residency, Dr Don.
Miller, head of the residency, approached him with an offer. “I want you to stay here and be on our faculty.” He took Dr. Miller up on his offer and has been faculty ever since.
Mark had wanted to open a family practice clinic in Rison.
He collaborated with Dr. Miller about the idea. Dr. Attwood would be the clinic physician and stay on as faculty at the residency. The residents would be able to rotate and work with Dr.
Attwood at the clinic.
The next year Dr. Attwood began his plans to construct the building and on October 21 of 1985, he saw the first patient in the Rison Family Practice clinic.
When Dr. Miller retired in 1995, Dr. Attwood became the AHEC Director.
In 2013, Mark stepped down as director of the AHEC residency.
In December 2018 the Family Practice Clinic on Sycamore Street was acquired from Dr.
Attwood by Mainline Health Systems.
Today, he’s continuing his work with UAMS and residency programs as faculty and assistant professor.
Mark is proud of their residents and the residency record in placing physicians in Southeast Arkansas: “I am most proud of the legacy of what this residency has done, not what I have done, but what the residency has done as far as providing good physicians for this state, that has been the most gratifying.”
Dr. Taggart has been making a tour of the state honoring many doctors in the book and will host a reception for Dr. Attwood in Rison. The public is invited to attend. If you have a story to tell, please come and share it.
Books can be ordered online https://arkansastimes.myshopify.com/products/country-doctors-of-arkansas-book and will also be available for purchase in at the reception.