Jerry D. Hammond, MD - Physician Hero Award

The Law Firm Freund, Freeze and Arnold is pleased to present the Atrium Medical Center Foundation 2013 Physician Hero Award to Dr. Jerry D. Hammond. The Medical Staff at Atrium Medical Center chose Dr. Hammond as physician hero for the many outstanding qualities his patients and physician peers see in him.

Dr. Scott: And I thought I’m going to look up the word hero and see can it apply to a doctor? So I Googled it. And it’s: “One who does things without thinking of themselves and without expecting a reward.” And I think, therefore, that fits Jerry to a T. And that’s a great definition of a hero.

His family and friends attribute Dr. Hammond’s values and qualities to his parents’ life lessons.

Terri Lynn: I think you have to start with our grandparents who kind of instilled in him a great work ethic. He came from a farm family, and he and his brothers and sometimes his sister worked on the farm.

Doug McNeill: Jerry was born to be a doctor. It is who he is. It was clearly his life, and his love and his passion.

Dr. Nesbit: He is a beloved family physician. He is a, was a, wonderful, superb clinician. He was humble and he was compassionate.

Sheila Wade: Patients knew that when they came to him they would get a diagnosis. Because if he didn’t know it, he was never afraid to say, “I’m not sure, but I’m gonna find out.”

Larry Hammond: Well it was his focus on people. And he truly liked what he was doing and wanted to help.

Sheila Wade: Dr. Hammond was and I think still is one of the best diagnosticians of all time.

Carol Turner: Jerry was one of those guys that would sit back and listen. And he didn’t always say much, but when he did say something, people listened.

Jeff Hammond: I think not only is he a good listener, he’s actually genuinely caring.

Jack Hammond: His total focus when he was practicing was the individual patient and how he could improve that patient’s care. I say that it kind of distills down maybe to he was practicing holistic medicine 50-60 years ago before most people knew what holistic medicine was.

Dr. Robertson: I think he took his responsibilities as a physician very seriously, and if he could further the state of medicine and further the hospital, by being you know in charge, as a leader, I think he was very much willing to do those types of things.

Carol Turner: What makes him an outstanding board member, is that he never waivered in terms of his position on patient care. He never waivered on what were his personal values and ethics.

His physician peers, staff, and friends all chose Dr. Hammond to be their family physician because they respect and admire him.

Dr. Nesbit: It is true that he was the doctor’s doctor in Middletown, Ohio. And that’s the highest compliment any physician can have.

Terri Lynn: Some of his office staff had worked for him the whole time that he was in practice, so it was basically a big family.

Dr. Hammond’s family has always been his primary concern.  Jean, his wife, supported his work and family throughout his career.

Sheila Wade: When he first started practice in 1960 in Middletown, she answered the phone for him, took his phone calls, made his appointments, all that kind of thing. Plus managed the children, got them where they needed to be. She was a huge, huge support for him. And he was absolutely devoted to the family.

Terri Lynn: And so, they, we had a CB in the basement and she used to call him on that to tell him where he needed to go and what he needed to be doing. So, they had different strengths. And they respected each other’s strengths and they also knew each others weaknesses, and kind of bolstered each other up through those.

Carol Turner: I have to commend Dr. Hammond for making the tough decision to retire when he did because he never lost sight of his commitment to his family. In all the years that he practiced, he was still very committed to his family and it was a time where his family needed him so I understand it.

Sheila Wade: And now it’s his children and his grandson. He’s very, very proud of his grandson. So, that’s kind of the light of his life! His family, his daughters, and his son mean the world to him.

Carol Turner: I think Dr. Hammond’s greatest legacy to the community is that he set the bar very high for the Medical Staff in terms of improving what we do, expanding the services we offer, continuing to become better at what we do.

Doug McNeill: He was respected by his own peers. He was respected by hospital employees. He was respected by his own patients. And I think that probably there’s no higher accolade that anyone could receive than to be respected by the people you serve.

Carol Turner: His ongoing support of the hospital, his dedication to medicine, his focus on quality and continuing to raise the bar are what make him the perfect physician hero.

Dr. Scott: There’s a phrase in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. The sentence starts: “Will I be a hero in my life or will someone else fill that role?” And I would suspect that for many of Jerry’s patients, he filled that role. And was their hero.