State Academy of Family Physicians selects Kosy doctor
Kosciusko physician Dr. Tim Alford has been named Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians 2018 Family Physician of the Year.
It is an achievement that is rooted in a reverence for his predecessors, complemented by community involvement, fueled by conviction — and tempered by some good-natured self-deprecation.
“I think this was some kind of acknowledgment,” Alford said, and then began to chuckle. “Or, ‘He’s about out to pasture, maybe we ought to just pat him on the back and maybe he’ll just leave us alone.’”
When asked about the award, Alford provided a rough sketch of his professional philosophy and then touched upon the state of the American health care system. He then settled in with a record of those who built the foundation that has enabled and supported his success.
He recalled stories told to him by Dr. Lamar Bailey about house calls made on horseback and emergency surgeries in patients’ homes.
He described Dr. Coleman Pickle as a general surgeon who “could do most anything.” And then, taking a deep breath, he leaned back and began to list others, such as Drs. Jimmy Bailey, Arthur Derrick, Robert Gilliland, Stanley Hartness and Paul Mink, who recruited him to Kosciusko.
“I’m kind of standing on these people’s shoulders,” he said.
Much of his medical philosophy stands upon the research of Barbara Starfield of Johns Hopins University. Her work identified that the relationship between a doctor and patient is the most essential component of effective care.
It is a perspective he embraced and then applied to other research that linked the state of a given population’s health to the quality of its educational system.
“The first person I met with in this community, before I met with Dr. Mink who was recruiting me, was Adrian McBeath, who was superintendent of schools at that time,” the Millsaps graduate said.
In a previous interview unrelated to this award, Kosciusko Lower Elementary School Principal Michelle Nowell mentioned Alford as “big supporter” of the Kosciusko school system. In particular, she noted the impactful role he has played in the development of the kindergarten program.
“My big passion has been the public school system,” Alford said. “If there’s some kind of way that I can help teachers in the community function better, then whatever I can do, then that’s what I need to do.”
Two years ago, Alford transitioned from family medicine to working in the Baptist - Attala emergency room. It is an experience that has heightened his awareness of the shortcomings of the health care system within this country.
“Twenty-five percent of the population in this part of the country has no reasonable access to a primary care source, because they’re locked out of the system,” the Greenwood native said.
Alford estimates that 80 percent of the cases he sees in the emergency room could be, and probably should be, taken care of in a primary care setting. It is a status quo that iss inefficient, costly and doomed, according to Alford. He believes an improvement would be for the state to expand its Medicaid program, which is something 37 states have already done and four more are voting on in November.
“I’m kind of a squeaky wheel in the state about Medicaid expansion,” he said. “It will eventually (be accepted), but the question is how many election cycles are we going to have to go through?”
Medicaid expansion, according to Alford, would grant access to those currently locked out, reduce costs through prevention and fewer emergency room visits, and provide at least a five-to-one return of investment in matching federal funds, which would also boost the state economy. And, of course, a healthier citizenry.
“I’m not a Pollyanna,” the graduate Of the University of Mississippi Medical Center said. “I don’t think there’s a utopia.”
However, he may see the area in which he and his wife Mary have built a life and raised their three children as something of an oasis.
“In Kosciusko we’re very blessed,” Alford said. “We have family doctors and pediatricians at a level that exceeds most rural communities in Mississippi.”
That is thanks, in part, to Alford and those whose shoulders he stands upon.
