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Before It Got Complicated: Medicine in Fort Smith and the Arkansas River Valley, 1817 - 1975
This work includes history and memoura about the development of medicine in Fort Smith, Arkansas and the surrounding Arkansas River valley. It begins with the detachment of U.S. Army explorers sent to establish a frontier fort on the Arkansas River. The detachment had a medical office to administer to the men. From the humble lean-to infirmary to the present-day medical complexes, the story unfolds.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2024
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July 19, 2024
Dr. Taylor Prewitt’s book, Before it Got Complicated, tells the story of the development of medicine in and around Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1817, to when the first hospital was established, until 1975 when President Gerald Ford came to Fort Smith to dedicate St. Edwards Mercy Medical Center.
Prewitt tells of the first doctor, Dr. Thomas Russell who came there from 1818 to 1819 when he died of “nervous fever.” Malaria and yellow fever kept the hospital busy. It had no modern medicine as we have today.
It also tells of the first female doctor, Minnie Sanders, who practiced from 1892 to 1895 when she married.
Dr. Ernest Adolphus Dennard preceded Dr. Harry McDonald in practice in Fort Smith. Dr. Dennard died in 1948, and his widow accompanied Theodore Rutledge to Kansas City to persuade Dr. McDonald to come to Fort Smith in 1949 because Dr. Denard's death had left Fort Smith without a black physician.
This book is well written. Prewitt draws your interest from page to page showing what developed next. It’s a book that will be appealing to anyone from the Ft. Smith area and beyond.
Prewitt tells of the first doctor, Dr. Thomas Russell who came there from 1818 to 1819 when he died of “nervous fever.” Malaria and yellow fever kept the hospital busy. It had no modern medicine as we have today.
It also tells of the first female doctor, Minnie Sanders, who practiced from 1892 to 1895 when she married.
Dr. Ernest Adolphus Dennard preceded Dr. Harry McDonald in practice in Fort Smith. Dr. Dennard died in 1948, and his widow accompanied Theodore Rutledge to Kansas City to persuade Dr. McDonald to come to Fort Smith in 1949 because Dr. Denard's death had left Fort Smith without a black physician.
This book is well written. Prewitt draws your interest from page to page showing what developed next. It’s a book that will be appealing to anyone from the Ft. Smith area and beyond.
Displaying 1 of 1 review