When I hear the word decade it seems like a long time.  When I think that is has been 10 years since Ed P. Hammons died it seems like yesterday and like an eternity.  I think he would be a little embarrassed that we are honoring him again, so long after his passing.  He was a man who did the right thing for the right reasons, not to get recognition or glory.

He was a man from a small Arkansas town who wanted to make a difference.  Having seen what combat medics were doing in Viet Nam, when he came back to Forrest City, AR after serving in the military he decided U.S. citizens at home should get that same cutting edge care before they reached the hospital.  Dr. E. P. Hammons, who just referred to himself as “Hammons”, was one of a kind. Continued

You have completed 80 to 100 hours a week for the past 6 months. Spring is rapidly approaching and you can taste the trout that you will catch along your favorite fishing hole. Your wife and children await with anxious wrist watches waiting on that final end of shift report to be completed and your vehicle to pull up in the driveway. And then… VACATION!!!

Remember the days with no cell phones? These were days when we actually had home phones and we used them. These were days when no caller ID was available to see if it was the office calling. These were the days when we actually used time clocks instead of all the modern up to date equipment, such as a telephone, to clock in and out. A blackberry was something we ate and canned for preserves, not something we talked on and typed on. Email was non-existent, unless you were extremely wealthy and could afford a $2,000 deck of cards to play solitaire with. Continued