{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/8c9r20t032/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Dr. Len Kemp and Denise Kemp"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine.  Disclaimer:  The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker’s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2022-04-21 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas","family doctors","rural family medicine","physicans","Arkansas State University","University of Central Arkansas","Kemp Pharmacy"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians (corporate name)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine. \u0026nbsp;Disclaimer: \u0026nbsp;The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker\u0026rsquo;s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/194/893/small/Kemp_LenandDenise%284-21-2022%29.mp4_1688064757.jpg?1688064759","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Kemp__Len_and_Denise_(4-21-2022).mp4"]},"duration":5347.80913,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/194/893/small/Kemp_LenandDenise%284-21-2022%29.mp4_1688064757.jpg?1688064759","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/194/893/original/Kemp__Len_and_Denise_%284-21-2022%29.mp4?1688064741","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":5347.80913,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893/transcript/45023","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Transcript of Dr. Len Kemp and Denise Kemp interview [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893/transcript/45023/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dr. Sam Taggart: Good evening, my name is Sam Taggart and it is 4/21/22.  I am in the home of Dr. Len Kemp and his wife Denise on 2522 Pruitt’s Chapel Road.  We were trying to figure out earlier where Pruitt’s Chapel was....I saw another Chapel’s Road somewhere.  Today, we are going to interview Dr. Kemp about his life as a family doctor in northeast Arkansas and about his life and his involvement in the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians.  Now, the best place to start with all of this...and we are going to do this with both of you and so, you might as well be thinking Denise....is at the beginning: When and where were you born?  Talk about the circumstances of your birth....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I was born July 3, 1953 towards the end of the Korean War.  My mom and dad were married in 1951 in Dermott, Arkansas.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Really...?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Dad...they were in California after they married and he was sent to Korea during the Korean War and so, she went back to Dermott with her mom, dad, and brothers.  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What was your mother’s maiden name?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Kerr.....Bob Kerr is her brother and Lenard Kerr was her other brother.  So, she was in Dermott at the end of her pregnancy and Dr. Barlow was her doctor.....Eddie Barlow’s dad...\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Eddie Barlow’s dad; yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think, if I remember correctly, he passed away before I was delivered and Dr. Thomas was my doctor...if I remember correctly...there in Dermott at St. Mary’s Hospital down in Chicot County in 1953.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you realize how many of the physicians who’ve had an impact on the Academy of Family Physicians were born in or around Dermott, Arkansas?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That’s true...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A lot of them.....There’s a whole lot of them....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: One of them wore a bow tie all the time...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Lee Parker....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, Lee Parker; he was one of my mother’s friends...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful; people.....\n\nSo, your father was in the Korean War...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes sir.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And he was overseas when you were born?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was overseas when I was born and he didn’t see me, I think, until I was 4-5 months old.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How many siblings do you have?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Two sisters who are younger; Debbie and Becky and they are both in the Little Rock area.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What kind of work do they do?   \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, Debbie is a retired school teacher and Becky is a retired registered nurse who worked at Children’s Hospital for25-30 years, I think.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: When you were a child was your family close?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and stuff...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes, we did.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Talk about that a little bit....who did you play with when you were a little kid?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, my cousins were in Little Rock at the time.  When I was growing up, dad was in pharmacy school until 1959 and my cousins John and Bob Kemp were there.  Later on when I moved to Mountain Home near my senior year, my uncle Bob Kerr’s children were there; Kenny, Bill, and Kera...my cousins there.  Mountain Home is where I finished high school.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you hunt, fish, play sports, or that kind of stuff?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Both....yeah, well, I played...I liked to fish and hunt; dad and I used to fish at night on Lake Norfork after he closed the drug store.  I liked to hunt just any type of hunting.  I played a little bit of golf.  I think I was the worst football player in the history of Arkansas high school football...\n\n(All laughing)...\n\nIn Mountain Home where I broke a collar bone my senior year.  Dr. Doyle Kinder was the doctor with my uncle there in Mountain Home and he was one of the doctors who....I was leaning towards being an accountant and he scolded me toward that and said, “No, you need to be a doctor”.....so, he was one of the people who lead me in that direction.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: \n\nOk Denise, what about your life?\n\nDenise Kemp: Well, I was born in Yellville in 1954.  Actually, I was born in Dr. Clemmie’s office; they didn’t have a hospital.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What is your birthday?\n\nDenise Kemp: October 31, 1954.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She is a spook...Halloween day.....\n\nDenise Kemp: No, I was a treat.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: A treat, of course; that’s right...on Halloween.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Talk a little bit about your mom and dad....\n\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh, my mom and dad both grew up there.  I have an older sister who still lives in Mountain Home who is a teacher; retired.  I grew up in Yellville there until I went to college.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you have other brothers and sisters?\n\nDenise Kemp: No, just my older sister.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: One older sister...\n\nDenise Kemp: I had two aunts who lived there and so, I had a bunch of cousins who lived up the street from us.  You know, a small town and we roamed a lot and did things that our kids can’t even think about.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I know a little bit about Yellville, but not a whole lot.... what did you do as a kid?\n\nDenise Kemp: We rode bicycles and played outside. I was a cheerleader in school and played in the band.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Is it fair to say with either one of you...we use the phrase that’s almost a euphemism now...”an idyllic” childhood...would that be a fair comment to make?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh, exactly..\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Excellent words....it was just a normal all-American family.\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So, where did your families come from...back 2-3 generations?  Irish or...Kemp sounds English...  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think it is English...if I remember correctly, the Kemps came from perhaps northeastern United States and were coal miners. The Kemp Coal Company was in northwest Arkansas; they had a coal company.  My grandfather, I think it was his either uncle or brother...I think it was his brother...but 2-3 Kemps had a coal company.  In fact, my dad and his brother worked in the coal mines, but they never went down below ground level; they just worked above the mines.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: They weren’t in coal mining area around Paris?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...Clarksville.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Clarksville, ok; so around in there....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Along the Arkansas River.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you know or did you know John Smith?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t think so.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: His father and his...going back to 1870, the Smith family hospitals in Ozark....the only reason I bring that up is because they started an insurance program in the 1920s for coal miners.\n\nDenise Kemp: Huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Ok, I bet they....I did work the ER once in Ozark back in ’78 or so....\n\n(Laughing)\n\nBut that’s just up the road from Clarksville.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nWhat about you Denise; where is your family from, do you know?\n\nDenise Kemp: My father was born and raised in Yellville, but my mother came down as a young child...she was born in Ohio.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What was your last name?\n\nDenise Kemp: LeFevers...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh, that is very obviously French... (Laughing)....\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...my mother’s maiden name was Sanford.  She moved down when she was a teenager, I think.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: LeFevers is interesting; I wasn’t expecting that...\n\nDenise Kemp: My dad and his dad owned a gas station for a while and then, my dad worked for a telephone company for 40 years.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At some point, you obviously started school; both of you....Denise in Yellville...Dr. Kemp, you in Dermott?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well no, dad...I was born there, but by the time that dad got back from Korea, we went to Lubbock, Texas at the Air force base there for like three years...my sister was born there.  Then, we moved back to Little Rock and he went to Little Rock Junior College back then...its UALR now..to get his pre-pharmacy.  Then, he went to pharmacy school in Little Rock; so, we were there until ‘59.  I went to kindergarten, first grade, and maybe part of second in Little Rock and then, we moved to Conway where he opened a drug store in the Banister-Lieblong Clinic called “Central Pharmacy.”  We were there five years and so, I was there the year that Kennedy was assassinated.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So you moved around a lot....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah and then, we moved to Forrest City when I was a sixth grader and he opened his first drug store, Kemp Pharmacy...his own drug store then and we were there, I think, five years.  Then, he opened a new pharmacy in Mountain Home in 1969; so, I was there for two years in high school and graduated in 1971 from Mountain Home High School.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Is that how your Uncle Bob ended up coming to Mountain Home?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah...yes, he was there.  I think he moved there in ’64 or ’65...something like that...so, he was there and had the opportunity for a drug store across from their clinic where he, Dr. Chaney, and Dr. Snow were...and he opened a drug store there in ‘69.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So you ended up graduating from....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Mountain Home High School....I was a bomber; the Mountain Bombers...1971.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok....oh wait, I think you said that you played football and that you were the worst football player in the state....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Probably in the history of Arkansas football; I think..\n\n(All laughing).... \n\nAnd I broke a collar bone my senior year; so, I didn’t play much anyway.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What position did you play?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I played a linebacker...offensive guard.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: By that time.....what year would that have been...when did you graduate?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: 1971...it would’ve been the 1970 football season...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: By 1970-’71, Mountain Home was getting a bit bigger....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was beginning to; it was still around 3,000, but beginning to have a bit of a growth spurt not long after that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, you were not a real big linebacker....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, I was pretty small and slow...(All laughing)...so, I wasn’t a good combination for an athlete....I did play some golf, which I was not very good at it either; but we did play some high school golf.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Denise, where did you end up going to high school?\n\nDenise Kemp: I went all 12 years in Yellville; graduated from there and then went to college in Conway at UCA.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: This question is for either of you, because I always find this very interesting....were there any teachers, preachers, business people, family members, grandparents.....anybody who had a big impact on you when you were a small child and pushed you in one direction or another or had an impact on you as a role model? \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Both my grandparents...well, one grandfather died before I was born and one died when I was like 5 or 6....so, not my grandparents; my dad, I guess, was my biggest role model....and my Uncle Bob Kerr was as well as I was growing up over in high school and college and on into medical school.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about you Denise?\n\nDenise Kemp: Well, one set of my grandparents lived in Harrison, which was not far from us, and so I saw them a lot.  Then my other set of grandparents lived up in the northern part of Ohio.  My grandfather died before I was born.  I had some really good teachers; my science teacher and my math teacher who I really looked up to and that was two of my favorite subjects. Of course back then, you know as a girl, you were either going to be a teacher or a nurse...that was pretty much. what everybody did ...so, I was a nurse, a registered nurse, and worked at Children’s Hospital in Wilwakin.  When we moved to Texas and he did his residency, I worked at a Children’s Hospital down there too; that’s where we ended up.  I ended up in college....one of my roommates was his sister....and that’s how we met.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You’ve already said that you graduated from school in Yellville and then went to UCA; what informed your decision at going to UCA?  Was there anything in particular that pushed in that direction?\n\nDenise Kemp: They had a really good science department at that time and the nursing school was very well thought of and highly recommended.  My cousin had been down there and had gone to the nursing school and I had several friends who were going there and so, that’s how I ended up there.”\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You graduated from high school when?\n\nDenise Kemp: 1972.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Len?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: 1971 from Mountain Home.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Len, where did you go to college?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: ASU in Jonesboro.\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Really; what prompted you to go to ASU?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Um.....multiple friends went there.  We had some that went to Fayetteville and I really didn’t want to go to Fayetteville. A lot of us liked ASU and went there from my high school and we met multiple other friends when I got there.  But there was like 5, 6, 7, or 8 of us that went from Mountain Home to ASU; that’s why we all made the trip down there to Jonesboro.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I left ASU in the spring of 1969.....so, our paths almost crossed there.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Almost there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Within a couple of years...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Missed you by two years....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Was Ken Beatle still in the department of...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was my...the department chair of, I guess, zoology or the science department there and he wrote one of my letters of recommendation...but, he was.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A wonderful guy...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was in charge of either biology or zoology; however they determine the name of it then.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about Dr. Stephenson? Was he still there or had he retired?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t remember him.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He probably had retired by that time.  What about Nickerson; Dale Nickerson?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t remember him either.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Or Dr. Harp?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Harp was still there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: The etiologist....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, he was still there.  Dr. Nave was my organic teacher.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So Dr. Sifford had quit by then?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Sifford....no, he and Nave both were the organic teachers.  His sons are doctors in Jonesboro now.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Dr. Nave or Dr. Sifford...?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Dr. Sifford; he has two sons that are doctors there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh yeah...I went to Arkansas State as well and Dr. Sifford was really hard.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was; he gave....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, he was wonderful.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That’s why I took Dr. Nave; because Dr. Sifford gave just unannounced tests.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yes....yes....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: At least Dr. Nave warned us that we had exams coming up.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: The day we walked into class, our first day in organic chemistry, Dr. Sifford very proudly said, “You can expect a test on any day you walk into class and if you have a test today, you may have a test tomorrow, and every test will cover everything that we’ve covered up to the time of the year.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Wow; I’m glad I had Dr. Nave.\n\n(All laughing)....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, it was very interesting...very, very interesting.  By the way, you and I and Mike Moody....Mike Moody was just a year or so...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: From Salem...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah from Salem; he was about a half-a-year behind me, which would put him about a year-and-a-half in front of you....so, all about the same.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Where there any teachers....again it doesn’t have to be teachers....family members, church members, people in the community who had a big impact on you?  I think you’re....Dr. Bob Kerr...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uncle Kerr was one of my main ones and my dad; both of them.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did he ever say anything directly to you like ...”You should do this” or “You should do that”?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Not specifically, he just gave encouraging words that medicine was good; family med.  I did one of my preceptorship there during medical school with him and got to see what family medicine was like in the good days...the good ole days of family medicine when they did much more than we do now. So, I got a good feel of it and a good taste of it and I liked the thought of family medicine from the beginning.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Was Ben Salzmann still there?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was there, but not practicing when I....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about you Denise? I’m going to keep asking this question over and over again....were there any people who had an impact on you when you were at UCA?\n\n\n\nDenise Kemp: Well, it was just mainly my teachers in high school that encouraged me. Not a lot or people from Yellville went to college in those days and so, I was one of the few from my class.  There were probably just a handful of us that went and we had a very small class; I think we had 48 in my class and were the largest one at the time.  I just liked science and so, that’s what propelled me to the nursing side of it.  I worked as a .....by the time I was in high school, we did have a hospital there and I was a nurse’s aide there for a couple of years.  Then, I worked in Baxter’s Lab in Mountain Home for a while and so, I just kind of stayed in that field.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At what point, Len, did you start saying, “this is what I’m going to do” or did you have other ideas of things that you might want to do besides medical school?  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, probably in my junior and senior year in high school is when I started...I was debating between accounting and medicine.  I made the decision to go ahead and do medicine, which I’m glad I did; looking back at it, I enjoyed medicine quite a bit.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about you Denise; when did you start thinking.....obviously...\n\nDenise Kemp: I just always...that’s just always what I wanted to do....was be a nurse and for as long back as I can remember.  It’s just what I wanted to do.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Were there any obstacles in your way?\n\nDenise Kemp: Well finances, you know, were a problem back then; I had a scholarship....but, really....no. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How about you Len?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Not too much; of course, dad had three kids three and a half years apart and tried to get all three of us through college and medical school; so, all that was a difficult task for him to do.  But, we did have a few scholarships to help along the way and we did work a little bit in the summer.  I did not work during school, but we did work through the summers trying to save up money to pay the expenses and things.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So at what point.....I think you already said this...during your junior and senior year you started thinking about going to medical school...at Arkansas State, were there any crises or things that happened that pushed you in direction or the other?\n\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Not really...I was pre-med from the beginning and I was fortunate enough that those classes fell in line like they should and I didn’t have much trouble getting through them. I had excellent teachers there, but none of them really pushed me, guided me, or tried to steer me towards medicine.  They were just teaching the basic...whatever class they were teaching. I had a good experience there and it all went....I didn’t really have any obstacles there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about you Denise?\n\nDenise Kemp: No...Not really.  I just took the courses they told me to take and just went right through it.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I did at ASU; I was at the peak there.  At one time, we had at least one or two doctors get in, of our fraternity brothers, to medical school every year for 6, 7, or 8 years in a row.  So, we had several guys who were ahead of me....2, 3, or 4 years...who would communicate back with us and give us some ideas on how to prepare for getting in: from taking the MCATS or what classes \n\nto take...just how to prepare ourselves for medical school.  So, the fraternity did help us quite a bit there too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you have any contact with Jordan?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Hank Jordan?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Hank Jordan....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I knew of him....uh...yes...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was several years in front of you.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And then Ron Harden.....did you know Ron?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh, I know Ron real well.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Ron was in Rector and he and Hank were probably a year or two out when I got in....probably in ’68 or ’69 was when they were in medical school.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, they were well remembered at that time and in fact, I did work a little bit with Ron in medical school.  He, I think, did insurance physicals...like we all did in medical school trying to make an extra buck...and I helped him do those one time out at Baptist Hospital in the middle ‘70s too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you have much contact with Hank after he went into practice in Jonesboro?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No; when I came here, he unfortunately passed not long after I moved here.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He died....boy, he had a jobus life after he got out of school. He had that bike accident where he broke everything....most of the bone....just broke both hips and had several dreadful things happen to him.  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah...uh huh...uh huh...yeah....then, I think he had lymphoma or something....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think he and Ron Hardin were pals; so, I think, they were....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Was Don Greenway....?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t remember a Greenway..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He and Hank were good buddies and I think Don was too.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He might have been...the ones that were a couple of years ahead of me when I got there, some of them I knew and some of them, I didn’t.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Don ended up becoming a gastroenterologist and was in Little Rock, but I think he has retired.  He’s my age or maybe a year younger than me....but anyway....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think Ron Hardin has finally retired too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Has he really retired?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I have an interesting story about Ron and I...When I was in Iraq, the first time in our hospital there, they were switching our unit out for another unit.....the unit was from Fort Campbell, a regular Army unit...and the surgeon that was coming in name’s was Hardin.  When they were moving in, we had like a week where we would work together with both units there....and when he first got there, I had heard that he was from Arkansas and so, I asked him, “Do you know Ron?” and he said, “that’s my dad.”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh...it was his father....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, his son....yeah, he was a general surgeon in the Army and we worked about a week together.  We got our picture made in front of the Arkansas flag and sent it back to his dad.  So, he thought that it was pretty cool that his son and I met there at Iraq.\n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I’m just old enough ...older than you are...that when I was...when I started the Family Practice residency, I was Ron Hardin’s doctor when he was in medical school.\n\n(All laughing)...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Oh cool; yeah...yeah.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He and Steve Clift both were patients of mine when they were in medical school.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, I did get to see some of his family in Rector when they were growing...I think his kids would go back and visit his parents...to see their grandparents...once or twice they’d became ill with some minor little illness and he’d call me up to see whichever child it was while they were visiting in Rector.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Let’s back up; we’ve been talking about medical school and we’ll come back and talk some more...but, talk about college and Denise with nursing school...where did you go to nursing school?\n\nDenise Kemp: Well, it was all at UCA.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You did it all at UCA....ok...\n\n\n\nDenise Kemp: I had a Bachelors degree in Science and a major in nursing; it was a four year program. So, I just stayed and...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you enjoy it?\n\nDenise Kemp: I did; I loved it.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You finished your nursing degree in what year?\n\nDenise Kemp: In 1976 and then, I went to work....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I don’t know why I write things down, because I can’t read them after I’m through....(Laughing)...\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah....we won’t go there...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That’s why I do the recording....\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...sure...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So, you went from your nursing education to.....where was your first job?\n\nDenise Kemp: At Arkansas Children’s Hospital; I worked there for a couple of years and then we moved to Texas when he went to do his residency and I worked at Cook Children’s Hospital down there while we were there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: When did you guys meet?\n\nDenise Kemp: Um....I was a junior in college and I believe you were in med school.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh, I was drugged at a party...\n\n(All laughing)..\n\nBy her friends and I woke up and there she was......no, we....my sister and she were sorority sisters and they worked....did Debbie work at Baxter Labs too or did she...?\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah, Debbie did too...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, they were working at Baxter Lab in Mountain Home and I was working at Baxter Lab....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now Baxter Lab; you’re not talking about the hospital.....you’re talking about Baxter Laboratories....\n\nDenise Kemp: Laboratory...yes...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: The laboratory: sliding bags, two rings, and all that....it was right, literally behind my Uncle Bob’s back yard almost.  It was a couple of blocks north of there....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That was a big deal up there; wasn’t it?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was....a big factory.\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How did that end up in Mountain Home?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t know; it was there when we moved there.  It was called Travenol or Baxter Labs and I worked in the lab.  We did testing on the resigns and quality control and she actually worked on an assembly line or something...\n\nDenise Kemp: I did....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: When did you work in the lab?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was probably in ’76...1976.  It was probably my sophomore year; it was a short year and going into the junior year....that was probably in ’76, that summer that I was working there.  But, she was working there and she wouldn’t leave me alone....\n\n \n\nDenise Kemp: I know....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She was at my house every night...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Every night....\n\nDenise Kemp: I’m telling ya...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Just sitting on the couch and talking to me; I was like, “who is that?”...ya know...and my sister said, “I’m sorry”... oh my gosh..but, that’s how we met; my sister. My sister was still at home too; both of them.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Right....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, we were introduced by my sister; they were sorority sisters there at UCA.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How about your first two years of medical school? What were your thoughts about that first two years in medical school?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Just surviving it.....I thought from college to medical school that it wasn’t much different except for the volume.  Medical School was harder, no doubt than college, but the vast amount of knowledge that you had to cram into your brain in a short period of time...where in college, maybe we learned in medical school in one week what we’d spend 5-6 weeks in college learning; it was just so condensed. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you ever question why you were doing it?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, I thought...I knew it was hard, but I never really had doubts.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah; it’s just what you were doing ...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I just kept putting my nose to the grindstone and kept going.  No, I never really doubted that that’s what I needed to do. I knew it was hard and we just...basically, you just exist”... (Laughing)... \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So you started medical school in ’76?\n\n\nDr. Len Kemp: 74....I finished ASU in ’74 and so, I started in the fall of ’74.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: OK....so then, you finished in ’78...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I was fortunate enough to pass ASU in just three years....back then, you could get in...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: After 90 hours.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Called 90 hour wonders; we didn’t have to have a degree...in fact after my freshman year, ASU granted me a degree.... (laughing)...At ASU after I finished my freshman year in medical school.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That’s good...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, I did it before I graduated ASU.\n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you know Dr. Richards at ASU?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, I don’t think so...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was the botanist....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I had botany...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A little bitty short man....a little bitty tiny man...a wonderful, wonderful, man....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I remember botany, but I don’t remember him.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: If I ever do one of these of myself, I’m going to talk about Dr. Richards....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Ok....very good.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was a wonderful, wonderful, guy.. \n\nAgain back to medical school and the same question as before; people who had an impact on you in those first couple of years?  People who were mentors or people who said, “Ok, you need to be doing this” or “you need to be doing that”?  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t know if he would’ve been a mentor, but Kenneth Westbrook was a doctor that we all looked up to. He was a surgeon and was well respected.  He and my uncle were about the same age and he was coming into his prime.  The same about Dr. Sung from Dermott; Dr. Jim Sung was the ENT doctor.  I didn’t really have much with Dr Sung; but Dr. Westbrook, I was on his rotation a time or two.   Though I didn’t do general surgery...that might have been my second choice if I didn’t do family medicine.\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I bet being on the rotation with Dr. Westbrook was really interesting...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was very good...he was a real unique guy and surgeon....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was a wonderful teacher too; wasn’t he?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Absolutely; the best...he really was.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, he was a really good teacher.\n\nWas Dale Morris still there when...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes sir; he operated on her daddy for colon cancer once upon a time.  After we got out, her daddy was at St. Vincent’s, I think...\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah..St.Vincent’s...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And he just happened to be her daddy’s surgeon once upon a time.  But, I didn’t know him as well.  Just as her.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A wonderful, wonderful, man….yeah…\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Just true gentlemen, scholars, educators, and all ....and wonderful doctors too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah right...now, there were some surgeons at the med center who weren’t...(laughing)....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah....there were...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, those guys were...those guys were....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah.....yeah....yeah, we had some that was not as well liked; they were wonderful doctors, but their personalities were different.....uh huh....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So...any of the people that you worked with at Children’s.....that was....in the mid ‘70s, that was a hay-day of activity at Children’s Hospital...\n\nDenise Kemp: It was....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Really big...\n\nDenise Kemp: When I first went to work there, the Filipino nurses were still there...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh....\n\nDenise Kemp: And they were trying phase them out; so, I kind of got thrown in by the seat of my pants. (Laughing)...They were leaving and I was fresh out of school, so it was kind of.....I had two really good LPNs that were there and just saved me. They showed me how to do things and they were really good....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: J.O. Cooper would’ve still been there about that time; a great big baldheaded guy with great big hands.....he was in neonatology; he wasn’t neonatology...he had been in El Dorado...but really.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Was it Dr. Harrison who was there too...a lady?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\n  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Dr. Harrison was one of my pediatric mentors....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok.....yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She was really good for general pediatrics and all....\n\nDenise Kemp: I worked on this split floor...one end was the burn unit and the other end of it was oncology...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah.....\n\nDenise Kemp: Which should never have been put together....but the nursing shortage back then...so, that’s where I worked the whole time I was there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: By the time that you came in was just slightly after when nurse practitioner programs  started...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Nurse practitioners were working the East End Clinic and various community clinics around Little Rock....did you have any contact with those folks?\n\nDenise Kemp: No, not really...I had heard about it, but I didn’t really know anybody that was in those programs.  The med center had programs from, I guess, UALR and Fayetteville and they came down there and did an extra year; I think it was.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDenise Kemp: To be the practitioners, but I didn’t know anybody who was doing that.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, they were kind of new when I was in med school too.\n\nYeah...\n\nWe knew several of them, because they lived...a lot of them lived in the dormitory and I lived in the dormitory for a couple of years; so, we made contact with them and knew them.  In fact, Judy Leach from Rector worked with us in our clinic over the years and she was the first nurse practitioner to have her ability to write a prescription.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Really?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She was number one in Arkansas to be able to have the ability to write her own prescriptions.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And so, she was in your clinic?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No...she was in our clinic here in town; yes...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That’s what I mean....once you got here....ok...alright.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She worked in the Rector clinic....uh huh.  Prescriptive authority, I think, was the word they used.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And they had a picture of her in the Rector paper writing her first prescription when she became the first practitioner to have prescriptive authority. So, we grew up, our generation, with nurse practitioners.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself here, but do you know Kirk Patton from Forrest City; the pediatrician down there?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh....I don’t think so....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A really, really nice guy; he says that back.....he started having nurse practitioners when he couldn’t get physician help back in like the early ‘80s....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: In Forrest City...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah and he said that he would not have stayed in practice if it had not been for the nurse practitioners that worked with him.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, that’s probably true...it saved a many a doctors.  Dr. Sexton, Cogburn, and all them were there in Forrest City, at the time, but I don’t remember a practitioner......\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Collins....Alex Collins......\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, he was down the street from my dad’s drug store.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Alex Collins...yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: In fact, his daughter lives here now.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...there was a McFall there.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, he and Collins were either in the same clinic or across street, I think.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....he was a bit of a surgeon, I think.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Might’ve been, I’m not sure.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, I think....no, I think he was a family doctor, but he...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Did a lot of surgery; yeah....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He did a whole lot of surgery; yeah......\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, their offices were just down the street from my dad’s drugstore in Forrest City.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So we’ve talked, Denise, about why you went to nursing school and obviously made some good decisions there.  At some point during your clinical years...you already said that you had started thinking about doing family practice and you’ve done a preceptorship with your uncle..... \n\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What informed your decision about where you would go to do the residency program that you ended up in?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, there were...of course our sophomore and junior year, we all started looking forward to what to do and we decided that we had to do the match program and all that.  There were 3-4 of us that were pretty good friends from medical school and 3 of us ended up going to John Peter Smith....”\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Down in Fort Worth, Texas...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Right...  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, we had to go interview at a few place....we interviewed in Texas, we interviewed in Florida, and North Carolina, I think it was...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Near Chapel Hill...but, we picked John Peter Smith as our first choice and three of us....Dr. Carey Pennington...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I know Carey...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Who is down in Warren; Dr. Roger Cagle, he and I went to ASU together and he and I also were in partnership together when we first moved here.  So, that’s how....we ended up moving to Paragould; Dr. Cagle is from Leechville and we were looking at different places to go when we were finishing up at John Peter Smith and that’s why we came here. But there were several of us that were just interested in family medicine and we were looking at the various programs and liking John Peter Smith due to the fact that it was such an aggressive program.\n\n \n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I do not want to put you on the spot here about this; ok....by this time, the AHEC program was up and running...the family practice residency at the University was up and running, but was in turmoil; all during the ‘70s and early ‘80s, it was in constant turmoil...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh.....sure....uh huh....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What was the primary thing that encouraged you or got you to go to John Peter Smith?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, because of the fact that we thought we’d have better training there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We were afraid that if we stayed in Little Rock, for sure, at the med school that we’d be nothing more than junior medical students for three years and we would not get to have the experience that we did at John Peter Smith.  At John Peter Smith, we were....all they had at John Peter Smith was family practice, they had some general surgery from Baylor to come over, they had a private orthopedic program there, and an OBGYN.  But, we took care of everybody else; we took care of everybody in the intensive care unit...the surgical, medical, and intensive care unit.  We were, except for the surgery residents, we did most of the surgeries under the guidance of a resident....so, we just had a unique opportunity to be really well trained with hands-on medicine there. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What year was that that you started your residency?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was ’78-’81; I finished up in 1981.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I believe that I’m correct in saying that that is where Joe Stallings...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That’s exactly...he and Bob...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And Lancaster...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Bob Lancaster....\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Went there...yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh; that’s right...now, Akin was another doctor there who went to Bentonville; I think.  He was ahead of Stallings, I think.  But Joe was....he was already in Jonesboro when I went there.  But, he and ....it was interesting...Dr. Buck Rusher was a general surgeon, a prince of a gentleman....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh yeah, a wonderful guy....he was a classmate of mine.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Oh, was he; yeah...he came to Jonesboro, I think, because he and Stallings were buddies.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Stallings had, of course, started it up; I’m not sure who started it, but Stallings was pretty much a pioneer of family medicine there in Jonesboro.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Right...    \n\nDr. Len Kemp: With AHEC...he was one of the more respected doctors there, but he and Buck Rusher came together in Jonesboro and when I came here, I knew Dr. Rusher and we had a good working relationship.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Dr. Rusher’s father was a pretty important family doctor in Forrest City.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Brinkley, I think.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Brinkley, I’m sorry....yeah, Brinkley....  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: I didn’t know it was his dad that was a doctor; I didn’t know that....but, it was Brinkley.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: It was his dad......either his dad or his could’ve been grandfather...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It could’ve been; I didn’t know that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: It was one of those two; but, his  name...when you start doing like I do and go research on microfilm...sitting there and going over and over...you see his name all over the place.  It was really sad that Buck died.   \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, what a loss that was...a tragedy.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was a classmate of mine, a wonderful guy, wonderful human being...\n\nDenise Kemp: Oh, he was...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I was fortunate enough to be on his; when I was an intern....November and December of my internship, I was on his rotation...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did he ever gain any weight?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t think so; he was tall and lean.....basically lean...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was a little ole bitty beam pole of a guy.....yeah....but again, just a wonderful guy.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: A wonderful surgeon and just a tremendous man.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok, so you enjoyed that.....at what point, did you guys decide, “OK, we’ve been dating for a while and we’re going to get married”? \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Her daddy bribed me.\n\n(All laughing)... \n\nHe did....I don’t know, she told me to and we just did.\n\n(All laughing)....\n\nWe got married our...when was it...junior...?\n\nDenise Kemp: Right before your junior year...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, our junior year; actually, it was right before my senior year....during my junior was when....\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah, we got married between...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Between my junior and senior year is when it was...\n\nDenise Kemp: Junior and senior year in 1977.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: She was working at Children’s at that time and of course, we dated some; but didn’t have much time for that with medical school.”\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I guess I was still in the dorm wasn’t I?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did y’all work together at all?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, not in...I might’ve had a rotation or something.\n\nDenise Kemp: I don’t think; I don’t even remember you coming through when I was there.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Being a student, but not much...but she... we ended up having an apartment there not far from med school and her work.\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh..\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Named something Meadows...I can’t think of the name of it; but, we were there one year before we went to John Peter Smith.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At some point, if you ever get a chance to....Jack Young from McGhee or Lake Village...whichever one it was....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, I know him....Lake Village...yeah....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He and Johnnie; she was a nurse, a pediatric nurse, and he was a family practice resident and they were in the neonatology clinic.....the sick newborns at Children’s or at the Med Center...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh, I know...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, that’s where they met and started….\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh....yeah...Yeah, I still see him at the meetings one a year down in Little Rock.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok, three years at John Peter Smith; I have never heard anybody...and there are a lot of people in Arkansas who have followed this same course that you followed....I’ve never heard anybody say that they didn’t have a good experience.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We were really blessed; we worked hard, but we learned a lot.  We had good teachers and just the volume of work we got to do.....it was a lot of effort put forth and a lot of long hours; but it was worth it to be able to be trained that well.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At some point you were bond to be thinking, “Where am I going to go into practice?”\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Talk about the process that resulted in you doing what you have done.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, the three of us from Arkansas had houses that were almost sides to side in Watauga, Texas when we were at John Peter Smith and so, our wives became friends too. We were all neighbors and we were all training together and Pennington was going to go to Warren for sure; that’s his home town....so, Cagle and I were trying to decide what to do.  ”Where to go”....we knew we wanted to go back to Arkansas; we didn’t want to stay in Texas...we looked briefly in Mountain Home and we looked in Batesville, Heber Springs, and decided to come here because he precepted with Dr. Crow at the time.  He did some of his....I can’t remember how much time he spent here...of course with Leachville being just down the road, this was almost his stomping grounds.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, we chose to come here with Dr. Crow and Dr. Matt Shots in 1981.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you like that?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I did; it worked out well.  They brought us in and we didn’t have to pay a lot of money; if fact, we didn’t pay anything to come in.  They just took us in, put us on a salary that was graduated over like three years and that allowed us to become partners; I guess in the beginning of the fourth year, we were partners with them, a four way partnership.  So, we didn’t have to spend a lot of money to buy into a practice... \n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And they were so busy that we were busy.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now, Mac hadn’t been here for a long time....4-5 years...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He’d only been here....yeah; he and Vern Ann, his wife, was in your book that you wrote...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He’d been here...I think; he’d been here two years...\n\n  \n\nDenise Kemp: It was two years....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Two years when we came here.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And it was kind of like...”Give me some help..”\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was needing some help...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: But, we were very...that was back when rural health was a big deal and we had rural health scholarships, Dr. Cagle and I both did; so if we went to a small enough town, that scholarship....that money, would be forgiven.  So, that was one of the reasons we went to Rector.  We spent half our life in Rector and half out life in Paragould for several years; he and I would alternate going up there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok....so where is Rector from here?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Due north in Clay County.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Where is it in relationship to Piggott?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It’s… I guess, it would be west of Piggott...between Piggott and Corning...in Clay County.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok, I know where it is.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And that just happens to be where Ron Harding is from too; Rector.  So, that’s why we came here and it worked out well.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And working half time in both places counted...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah and we did that for several years; we did.  It helped us build up our practice in Rector and back then, we still delivered babies and worked the ER; so, we were really busy back then.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did Dr. Crow or Dr. Shot...or either of you guys.....did y’all do much surgery?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We did ...Dr. Crow did the most probably.  He was kind of our mentor of sorts in surgery.  He taught us how to do tubals; he did laparoscopic tubals before anybody else did in this part of the country.  With St. Barnard’s being a Catholic Hospital, they weren’t doing tubals there; so, he pioneered laparoscopic tubal ligation here in northeast Arkansas.  I forget how many thousands he did, but he kept a little book of cards of all the patients he did.  He taught us how to do the procedure and that’s one of the things that I learned....I did a few of them at John Peter Smith; but we did them with the electrical cautery and here, he did it with a silastic band, which just wrapped it around the tube and was much safer.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We did that, we did tonsils, we did c-sections, and things like that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You came here in ’81 or ‘82...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: ....’81...Uh huh....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And ya’ll have lived here ever since...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Were you happy that you lived here?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah...it’s been a good 41 years...\n\nDenise Kemp: Sure, it’s great...it’s been great...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: 41 years....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, looking back, it’s been good; we’ve been blessed.\n\nDenise Kemp: It’s a great place to live really.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So, talk a little bit about your practice...obviously, you didn’t have to set up a practice as the practice was already set up. Did that suit you that you didn’t have to do that?\n\n \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, it did; neither Roger Cagle nor I...neither one of us had any earthly idea about how to run a business or run a practice.  We’d worked hard in many clinics and all that, but Dr. Crow had been here for a long time and Dr. Shots had been here for two years; so, they already had an established clinic and all the business structure set up...business manager, all the nurses, and all that were already here.  So, they just plugged us in the system and we just went forward.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You came along right about the Reagan years....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh, he was elected while we were still at John Peter Smith.  We had voted for Reagan that year...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That’s about the same time that cost containment started being an issue....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Before then, Medicare was an open spigot....did that have a big impact on you or do you remember much about that?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It did somewhat, because prior to us getting here...like you said, it was an open spigot and they....cost plus and the hospitals could just run up what they needed and they got their money back plus a percentage....after that, it got to be tighter with the money in the hospitals and in the.....I don’t remember; we were so busy that we did well as far as financially...we did well with that, but I think the hospitals were the ones that were beginning to have the burden trying to go with the DRGs and all that.....prior to that, I think was the cost plus system or something with Medicare. So, we got here right when it started getting tough on the hospitals.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about privileges?  Obviously, you came in with an established group...you couldn’t get any more established than A.C. Crow.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That’s true...\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So, I would suspect that he probably dictated some of the things that went on in the hospital.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Sure....yes, he and.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He and other people ....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He and Dr. Shed probably were the two main family practice doctors.  Dr. Bradshire was here and.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Was Dale Bonner here?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Dale Bonner was with Dr. Shed for a while and then went on his own.  Dr. Bonner and I were good friends; we....that was about the time that the ER got to be from a minor facility to a major part of the hospital.  I think Dr. Crow said that they used to take it a week at a time and taking it from home...it got to be where we actually stayed at the hospital at night in the ER when we came and started working.  We actually worked for the hospital and there were six of us who took every sixth night; year around.  In the day time, we’d just cover it the best we could; but after like 5 o’clock till 7 the next day, we actually had a doctor in the ER at night.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: In the ‘80s or ‘90s....early ‘90s...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...early ’80 is actually when we started doing that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: When did it get more formalized?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, in the last 10 years; probably.  I haven’t worked in the ER much at all in that last 5-10 years, but that’s when they started having outside companies coming in and provide doctors.  But, we did our own for a long time and the six of us were all Paragould doctors practicing here in town.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did y’all ever get any of the kids from the residency program over in Jonesboro?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes, sir; that’s where....Dr. Hendricks and Dr. Heinz...Dr. Hendricks was actually at the Texarkana’s AHEC, but his wife was from here and so, they would come up here and moonlight some on the weekends. Then Dr. Heinz, who works here in town, was from the Jonesboro AHEC; so yes, we did have AHEC residents come up here and work the ER at night.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did Dr. Mike Vercer ever come up here?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, I remember him; but, I don’t remember working with him specifically.  He was the, I guess, the head of the medical board.” \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: No, that’s his....I’m talking about his nephew; he trained at Jonesboro...\n\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t think I ever...ok, I think I remember him, but I don’t think I ever worked with him.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A big guy.....a big fellow....big.....really...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t guess I...I must have worked with was his uncle; was that his uncle?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, his uncle was the guy....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Joe Vercer was his name; I think.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, Joe Vercer...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He kind of ruled the roost for the medical board for a long time.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You bet ya....he did... (Laughing)..\n\nDr. Len Kemp: For sure..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So how long did it take for you....you got here in ’81 and that’s over 40 years now....how long did it take for you to get really engrained of a life in Paragould in northeast Arkansas?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It didn’t take long really; we went to Eastside Baptist starting in August of ’81 and we’ve been members there for 40 years...41 years.  That and working, we got a lot of friends from the church and businesses, the hospital, and the practice, the doctors and all our other friends...so, we...it didn’t take long; it’s a welcoming town.  The town was warm and receptive to us.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How many children do you have?\n\nDenise Kemp: Just one...one son, Justin....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How old is he?\n\nDenise Kemp: He is 38.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: 39 soon...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What is his name?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Justin\n\nDenise Kemp:  ....Justin...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Where does he live and what does he do?\n\nDr. Len Kemp and Denise Kemp: (Both)....He lives here.......He lives here and he’s a nurse practitioner.\n\nWorks with him...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He works with me in our office....that’s our two granddaughters that you keep seeing showing up in the pictures.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: The pictures that keep flashing.... (All laughing)....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He has two daughters that are 3 and 8...no, excuse me; 5 and 8.  They are three years apart, kindergarten and third grade, and they go to Green County Tech.  He and his wife...in fact, his wife is our office manager now and so, we’ve had....he’s been working with me for 5 or...I forget how many years.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How many are there of you in the practice now?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well the current practice is relatively new and I’m the only doctor with three practitioners there.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, we’re here.....actually in Dr. Collier’s old building; did you ever know George Collier?\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I knew George and John...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, John is still here; he’s a radiologist.  We are in their building that they had.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now, George died; didn’t he?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes sir about 10, 12....15 years ago.\n\nDenise Kemp: A long time...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah sadly...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He was ahead of me.....but, John was about my age.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, John is early 70’s; I think...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok; yeah, I’m 75....so, he was about my age.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He and Dr. Bonner, I think, are reasonably close in age; I’m not sure.\n\nDenise Kemp: George has been gone for probably over 20 years...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...yeah....\n\nDenise Kemp: Because Leanne wasn’t married to Kyle then....they got married right before George died; he wanted to see them settle because they had been dating for a long time and their daughter is in college now, so....yeah, died ....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Because of colon cancer...I think is what got him...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was a character....to say the least.\n\nDenise Kemp: He was....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: They were pilots; I think....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think so; they were in all kinds of .....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I think they were pilots....\n\nDenise Kemp: If they could, they did it...they did everything.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...all kinds of things...yeah right.... (All laughing)...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: They were characters, but they were excellent doctors.  John actually was family practice, but he went back and did radiology; so, he is our radiologist here in town now.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Talk about the practice of medicine; have you enjoyed the practice of medicine?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I have....I think what made me enjoy it less over time was because of the negative influence of the government and insurance companies.  If we could get the government out of medicine and the insurance companies offer back, I think it would be a much more pleasant practice.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At what point did you start getting involved with the Arkansas Academy?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Very early on, probably in 1982 or ’82...I just was...for some reason, I was interested in family medicine and I wanted to make sure that family medicine...we were battling against all the specialists....the surgeons and all.... and they always, in medicine, had a point that they were better than we were or better trained than we were...in their specialty, yes; but family medicine had it’s niche.  Coming out from John Peter Smith, we thought we were well trained for what we did.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And I wanted to make family practice a strong part of all medicine and I think it’s...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: At some point, you joined the board or were elected to the board...when was that; do you remember?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes....oh, I was elected President in 2017 and I had been on the board probably 5-10 years prior to that...so, I’d say I have been on the board for probably 15 years or more.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok....now, were there any issues that really stand out to you since you’ve been on the board or in your years as President that were really paramount in what y’all had to deal with?  Nurse practitioners, private privileges, financing....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...yes....and I was also one of the ....oh, I forget what we were with the Arkansas Medical Society; I was a delegate with them...not a delegate, but....from our region; I forget the exact name for that....  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A counselor....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, I was Medical Society; but, I spent most my time in the family practice academy there.  But, I did both medical society...because Dr. Crow was president, Dr. Lawson was, and Dr. Williams.....we had several medical society presidents from here.  But then since I was President of the Arkansas Academy, so was Dr. Cagle; he was our academy president.  In fact, 3-4 of my classmates were presidents. At one time, I was president of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So, I just wanted to promote family medicine, I guess, as much as anything.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You have been...at least it appears in the records...most active in the last 20 years with the academy...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...\n\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: It was almost like somebody flipped a switch in 2000 and said, “Ok, we need to be looking at the future of family medicine.”  There were just a whole bunch of studies...”The Future of Family Medicine”...”Keystone” ...and 2-3 other things.  Can you tell if any of those things have had any impact on the practical aspects of being a family physician?  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: I don’t know; I just know that...my Uncle Bob Kerr, Dr. Crow, and Dr. Shed, and those in that generation...they did what I’d say was everything in medicine.  Even Dr. Williams, back in his day; they did the surgery, they did the gallbladder, the appendix, delivered all the babies, c-sections, the ER, took out tonsils; they did all that. When Dr. Cagle and I came in, our generation, we did most of that...we didn’t do gallbladder surgeries, but we did do tubals, c-sections, and all that...but, we were beginning to.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you have general surgeons in the community at that time?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We had two; Dr. Lawson and Dr. Sellers were here.  Prior to that, there weren’t; Dr. Lawson was the first one to come in.  My uncle Bob Kerr, he did general surgery and family medicine in Mountain Home before they ever had a general surgeon in Mountain Home. He was their general surgeon.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Boy, he tells a wonderful story...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And he did some orthopedics there too.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...he tells a wonderful story about a kid who got caught up in a prop.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: In Norfork...or whatever the second biggest....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, Norfork Lake; I think...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: A big lake....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: They operated on him for a long time to get him stable enough to move him out.  And now... medicine from that standpoint, I think it was hay-day medicine...to now, we’re fragmented; you’re either doing office practice, you’re doing social security disability physicals, you’re doing hospitalist work, you’re doing only ER....you’re just doing more of... just a fragment of what we used to do; we used to do all of it.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What kind of hospitalist program do you have here in Paragould?\n\nDr. Len Kemp:We have one that is primarily internal medicine and we have a couple of family practice doctors who do work as well; there’s probably a hybrid here.  We have some family practice doctors who still see patients, but we have some family practice doctors who work for the Schumacher Group; I think it is.  It’s a group who provides doctors for the emergency room and the hospital.  So, we stopped...our group that I was with...doing hospital practice probably 15 years ago or so...and the hospital had the right idea to get us out of the hospital and bring in these hospitalists....because the hospital would make more money; the hospitalists would get them out quicker.\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Right...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We tended to keep them in the hospital longer since they were our patients and we dealt with them more....but, it has been a mixed blessing.  We stopped delivering babies probably 15-20 years ago too...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you have any OB people here in town now?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We do, we have four now....excuse me, we have three OBs now.  At one time....when I first came here, we had no OB doctors....the only OB doctors were the family practice doctors; we did everything here.   We had one pediatrician, Dr. Shotts; Dr. VernAnn Shotts.  But, we did all the peds except for what VernAnne helped us with and did all the OBs at that time...now, that’s shifted to where there’s not any family practice doctors to deliver babies anymore. I still see babies in the nursery, but that’s on a rare occasion anymore; I don’t see too many. But, it’s gone from doing almost everything under the sun to almost...probably a third of that...from what we used to do.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now we’ve covered this, but I think it’s important to make this point.....y’all were doing OB until there were OBs in the community...you were doing general surgery until there were general surgeons in the community...did that coincide with when you really dropped off in doing surgery or really dropped off in doing OB?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, both; I think so...it did coincide somewhat.  Of course, surgery residents were much better trained than we were in doing surgery and so, were the OB doctors; but, I think we did a pretty decent job in OB for sure.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Actually when I moved here, Dr. Lawson was already here and so was Dr. Sellers...and they were doing the majority of the gallbladders, colon surgeries, and all that.  We primarily did tonsillectomies, c-sections, tubals, and that sort of thing....OB.  We did a full line of OB and c-sections.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How long did you stay in nursing...or are you still staying in nursing?\n\nDenise Kemp: (Laughing)...Well, I still have a license...but, no...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You could be like when I interviewed Joe Stallings a couple of years ago....I asked Joe, “When did you quit doing OB?”....he said, “I’m still doing OB.”    \n\n(All laughing)....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, he is....he is one of the few that’s still doing that.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...yeah....you know, he’s sick....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Is he?...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: He’s real sick; yeah...\n\nDenise Kemp: Awe...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I didn’t.....I haven’t seen him in....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I’ll tell you about it when we finish our interview...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Oh ok...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I’ll tell you a little bit more...\n\nSo you’ve enjoyed what you do?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I did...I have.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Would you do it again? \n\nDr. Len Kemp: I would.  I must admit though...I enjoyed OB, I really did; but I don’t miss it.\n\n(Laughing)...\n\nIf that makes sense...I enjoyed it and I still see patients that I delivered...or I delivered maybe their children, or maybe their mother, or something in the office....I really enjoyed OB; but now, I don’t miss it at all.  It’s just such a.....it just wears you out doing that and the office practice all at the same time.\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah, that was the most of his nighttime calls.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....compare your quality of life in the last 5-6 years compared to your quality of life early in practice...I realize that it’s hard because you were a different age at that time....but try to compare those a little bit...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, we didn’t know any better when we were younger....that was all we did was work all the time. (Laughing)....It wasn’t that bad, but we worked much more than most people realized how much time we put in working all the time.  In fact, my son when he was younger...one time, somebody asked him if he wanted to be a doctor....he said, “No”...they said, “Why?” and he said, “Because you never see your kids.” (Both laughing)....And that was true; I missed a lot of parties and this and that...because I was either on call, delivering a baby, working, or something.\n\nDenise Kemp: We spent lots of holidays in the ER.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And I don’t regret it; it is a good learning experience and we grew up in medicine....so, we did learn how to adapt.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....right...\n\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We had a life, I don’t mean that we were....110% all we did was medicine; we did do things outside of medicine. But, we did spent a lot of time working back in those days.  Now, we have a lot more time off and enjoy other things as well.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ted Lancaster’s wife from Walnut Ridge described her husband as a public utility. \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (All laughing)...\n\nI think that is a great....\n\nDenise Kemp: That is a great description. (Laughing).....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He was on the board with me and we got to be friends with his lovely wife.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: His lovely daughter is working at Walnut Ridge.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh yeah, she is delightful.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: In fact, we recruited her to come here; but, we lost her to her home town.\n\n(Laughing)...\n\nBut, she would’ve been a dandy.  She still is a dandy doctor.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh, she is a dandy...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: An excellent physician....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, she really is.... \n\nSo you enjoyed it; what did you guys do for fun?\n\n\nDenise Kemp: We play with the grandkids.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Granddaughters...\n\nDenise Kemp: That’s it....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I used to play golf, but I never was very good at it.  So, I don’t play golf now; mainly, I just maybe go hunting or fishing.  We travel with the grandkids; like last year, we went to Wyoming.  We took our RV out there...drove all the way out there and all the way back.  We spent a week out there.  They were young, but they really enjoyed seeing that part of the world.  But, we spend a lot of time with the grandkids. \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Is your health still good?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So far, so good...we’re quite healthy; thank goodness.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Have you started the process of thinking about retirement?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I’ve been asked that for the last 20 years...”When am I going to quit?” and I don’t have specific dates set.  But, I would think....you know, Dr. Crow worked until he was in his 80s off and on/ part-time and I wouldn’t mind doing part-time, you know later on.  But full speed ahead, I would think another 4, 5, 6 years at the most; if I’m blessed with good health.  But, I still like it...I still like people and now that we’re not so physically tired all the time, it makes not going to work as big a...\n\n(Both laughing)   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: And you don’t do....do you do hospital work?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I do...a little tiny bit.  I fill in for the rehab hospitals on weekends.  We have a rehab hospital here in town and I work part-time for them...if their doctor is out, I might cover for a week or two.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Or I work every other weekend just making rounds for them. Now, I do see babies in the nursery; but outside of that, I don’t have any hospital call.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I didn’t ask either one of you this before we started, but were your families religious when you were kids?  Like going to church a lot .....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: A lot, we did.  We were Baptist.  Dad was working all the time as a pharmacist and in the pharmacy school; so, he didn’t get to go as much as we did.  But mom, we were there almost every Sunday and most every Wednesday.  So in my young life, we were there a lot; we sure were.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Mike Young from Prescott made the comment that when he was a kid he had a drug problem.  He said that he got drugged to church every time the door was open.\n\n(All Laughing)...\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah....Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: He’s still a character too...he’s got his long hair and all that....\n\n(Laughing)....\n\nHe sits kind of in the back with us...... (Laughing)....there’s a group of us that tends to sit in the back of the meetings every year.  So, we visit and carry on...he’s there almost every year as well.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Denise, what about your family?\n\nDenise Kemp: Uh, sporadic....my parents went to church evidently when I was very young that I don’t really remember much; the typical preacher conflict with them and then, they stopped going.  They would take us, daddy would, and drop us off; so, I went a lot growing up, but not so much with them.  But now, we go....that’s a big part of our life.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: I was going to say...how about your own lives....it is a big part?\n\nDenise Kemp: It’s a big part ...a big part....and always has been.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh and now, we get to enjoy taking the girls...\n\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And they like it too.  They’ve got their own little children’s church, they got their own little Sunday school, they have their activities, and they have their buddies there....it’s really fun watching them go.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You were involved in medical politics...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh…\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: In the time frame of.....the later years of Jim Webber, Shot Rogers, George Warren, and those people...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes...uh huh....un huh....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you ever think about getting more involved in the political affairs...either medical or nonmedical?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Not really...not on the state or national level; No, I didn’t really have a desire to be a....I guess I’m a delegate, but I don’t have a desire to be a national officer or anything like that.  I just don’t have the time.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And I’m really not interested in that part right now; I’m supportive of those who do, but, I’m just not interested in that.\n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: There are only so many hours in a day....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That’s true.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (Laughing)....\n\nOk; now, we’ve zoomed through a lot of information here real quickly...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you have anything else...now remember that this DVD, depending on what ya’ll do with it, or the electronic version of this is going to be available for as long as you want it to be.....is there anything else that you would like to say in here that we haven’t covered? \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, we talked about being in Iraq and me meeting Ron’s son.....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Oh yes....yeah, please talk about that.  How did you end up in the service at that time?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, I didn’t.....I was 50; I wasn’t....I did not join the military until I was 50.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Really?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yes and I guess it was the beginning of the Iraq War and all that....after 9-11 and all...my nephew was in the regular Army at that time, my grandfather was WWI, my uncle was WWII, and my daddy was in Korean War.....my Uncle Bob Kerr was not in war, but he was in the Air Force after he got out of medical school.  My nephew was in Iraq once or twice, I think, over there.  We were at a medical meeting in Little Rock one time and all these displays were set up and an Air Force recruiter was sitting there... I said, “You don’t take old people, someone like me, do ya?”\n\n(Laughing)...\n\nHe said, “Yes, we do”.... so, I went and took my physical at the Air Force base....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (Laughing)....Did he talk to you before he did this?\n\nDenise Kemp: Well, yeah; but, it wasn’t really...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: (Laughing).... \n\nI think my son and she where both shocked when I actually told them.\n\nDenise Kemp: It was like it wasn’t really real...you know....\n\n      \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah, right...\n\nDenise Kemp: It was just a conversation...(Laughing)...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: But, I went and got my physical with the Air Force and I flunked it because I had eye surgery; RK.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Uh huh....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: So that I could see...well, the navy wouldn’t take me because of that; but the Army did.  So, I joined the Army and I went...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (Laughing)....That was in what year?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: That was 19.....I was 50; so, it would’ve been 2003; I guess it was.  I went to boot camp down in San Antonio and finished it.   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Brooks Army?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, Brooks Army...that’s all the same place down there; Forts San Houston.....then three months later, I was in Germany. (Laughing)....\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Wow...how long did you stay in Germany?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I went to Germany and......I was in Germany for about almost four months and then, I came back home and a few months later, they sent me to Iraq.\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah, Germany was fine.  Justin and I went over and visited; you know.  Justin was ....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: 20..\n\nDenise Kemp: 19 or 20 and so, we went over and visited and that was fine...but, the rest of it wasn’t fine.    (Laughing).....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Actually, Dr. Crow was working part-time and he worked for me while I was away.\n\nDenise Kemp: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: To help cover the expenses...but then I went to Iraq, two times, and after that, I went to Afghanistan.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I was probably on active duty almost a year-and-a-half in six years... (Laughing)....so, I was out of my practice for...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: So you were in “Desert Storm”?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, it was after “Desert Storm”.  Yes, I was in “Iraqi Freedom” and “Enduring Freedom.”  So, I was in Germany once, Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once; fortunately, we were on what they call “90 days boots on ground”....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Uh huh..\n\nDr. Len Kemp: And the first group that went over there went for a year and a lot of them lost their practice because they were gone for so long.  So, I was only gone about four months each time, which was not easy, but survivable because I had someone like Dr. Crow and then another time, we had a nurse practitioner or maybe a physician assistant that took my place to keep my patients going while I was gone.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: The first time was in what year?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It was probably....let’s see....2004 when I was in Germany.  Because that was the ...was that the 60th year of D-day?  I think....that was ’44; so yeah, I was there.  I was coming and was foolish enough not to stay another day or two because that was the 60th anniversary of D-day when I was in Germany.  Then the next year and the year after, I was in Iraq and then finished up in Afghanistan, I think, in 2009.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That would’ve been in 2005-2006?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, something like that...I think 2009 was my last time.\n\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now were you at any point during your time in Iraq part of the civilian affairs detachments at all?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, we were all combat support hospital.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: When I was in Afghanistan, we were part military police; we ran the prison, the detainee center there.  So, we were taking care of the detainees...that’s actually what we did at all 3-4 times we were there.  We ran the emergency room, had an operating room, hospital, and all that...but we took care of our injured, we took care of the enemy injured, and the civilian injuries too.\n\n  \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: How safe did you feel?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Ah......probably not as much as she thought I was there...\n\nDenise Kemp: No, I’ve heard some things since he came home that I’m glad I didn’t know....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I actually got to; one kind of unique thing that I did get to do....my first time there, I was at Abu Ghraib... that’s where I was... when Saddam’s trial was going on and I volunteered to go to the Green zone, there in Bagdad, for the trial; so, I was there for four days when they were...I was the doctor for the Saddam’s trial.  He had his own doctor that went with him that was Army, I think... I think he was family practice, but he was assigned to Saddam.  At the trial, I and my group....we had a couple of medics and a couple of nurses...we set up a little clinic there in the court house and we took care of the lawyers or anybody else that was involved with the trial while we were there for four days...there in Bagdad.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: That is probably the most unusual thing, mid-practice, that I have ever heard anybody ever tell me..... (Laughing)....\n\n \n\nDr. Len Kemp: We could watch....the US Marshalls were in control of the security and we had these cameras were we could watch Saddam while he was in his prison cell coming out and getting food and going back in..then, they’d bring him up to the trial.  We could go in where the trial was being held when he was not there; but when they brought him in, it was shut off and we could just watch it on video.\n\n Dr. Sam Taggart: Yeah.....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: But that was kind of neat getting to be the doctor.\n\nDenise Kemp: But, I had told him that he was not supposed to leave the fort or his area......he was not supposed to step out....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, we did...I did a few times.....\n\nDenise Kemp: Yes, he did....he did not...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We went outside the wire...we went outside of it a few time, but most of the time, we were inside the wire.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did you learn anything while you were over there that you didn’t already know....about just people in general....and did you learn anything about yourself while you were over there?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, what was important the most....one of my...the first time I went there, my battle buddy....he was killed the second time that he was over there.  He was a wonderful surgeon from New Jersey and he worked in Philadelphia; he was over there volunteering his time and his life and he lost his life in Mosul on Christmas Day in 2008; he was killed by mortar.  That just made you realize how important life is and how precious it is.  He was just a superb surgeon, a tremendous man, and he gave his life for his country there on Christmas Day.”        \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Did it change anything about your life when you came back home?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Oh, I don’t...I think I just had a better perspective of what life was and how those people live over  there and how fortunate we are to live here in this country.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: You know...my son and I and a couple of others have been on some medical missionary trips too at various places....we went to Romania one time and I’ve been to Ecuador and Guatemala with the Army, and we’ve been to Nicaragua with the church a time or two  and just seeing how those.....we went to Brazil one time on the Amazon River...just to see how those people just survive with not much more than a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and barefoot...you know, the kids.  And hell, we just throw away more than they can ever imagine having over there and that just makes us see how blessed we are to live in this country.  We are very fortunate.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now, there will be a time when you will retire....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh..\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Maybe.....maybe not.....what will you do if you retire?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, I don’t play golf anymore; so, I don’t think I’ll do that....but, I would like to hunt and fish more; I think that is something that I would like to do.....maybe take the granddaughters somewhere; take them on little short trips, long trips, or whatever to let them see our country.  See the world; that’s what I’d like to do.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Ok....these interviews normally last about an hour-and-a –half, but y’all are so good about answering my questions that we’re out to a little over an hour.  There is no reason to artificially prolong this, but I have two other questions.....for both of you to answer separately ...that I did not put in this questionnaire. This is not Gonzaga journalism, so it’s not “Gotcha” questions..... \n\n(Laughing)...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: 50 years from now, you’re both going to be pictures on the wall; what do you want your great, great, great grandchildren to know about you?\n\n  \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Hmmm...\n\nDenise Kemp: I think I want them to know that we were patriots and we love our country, we love God, we love our family...family is very important to us....and I want them to know that.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think that’s good....and just that they did their best to do what they could to help their fellow man, themselves, and their family.  They weren’t slackers; they really worked hard and did their best to improve themselves, their family, their country, their community, their church, and all that sort of thing.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Now my last question, what do you want for them? \n\n \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Freedom...\n\nDenise Kemp: Freedom...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: We just don’t have it anymore or we’re rapidly losing it.  Freedom of interference by the government and by anybody else other than themselves; not that they can run amuck and go crazy...but, we’ve lost so much freedom in the last five to ten years....the last year or two than what our revolutionary fathers fought for against England...they were being oppressed by their country...our own government now, I think, is what our forefathers feared it would become. It’s just a huge creature....(Laughing)....if you will and instead of “us” telling the government what to do and the government has a role....but now, the government tells us everything.  You can’t take a breath, you can’t take a step, we can’t do anything without government interference and that’s what I fear is going to get worse.  There is a generation now who are totally dependent on the government...as long as they can play their videogames and get their check every month; they don’t care what happens.  The working man and the working woman, they are going to be oppressed even more, I think, in the future just to try to make a living because the governments rules and regulations are so oppressive...that’s what I hate to see and if anything, that’s why I would try to...I don’t think fight against would be the right....maybe standup against tyranny so that my grandchildren can have the freedom that we enjoyed when we were young.  It wasn’t perfect, but its far better than the way it’s looking right now.  I fear for our children’s generation and our grandchildren’s generation of what kind of freedom they’ll have.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: What about you Denise?\n\n Denise Kemp: Basically, the same....I want them to have...we had as you called it “idyllic” growing up and they got one too, but in a different way.  But, I don’t want them to have to worry about things and they’ve had to...even the kindergarteners and third graders...these last couple of years.  They were told, “Wear a mask all the time”, “you can’t do this,” and “you can’t do that”....I don’t want them to have to grow up like that.  I don’t think it’s very supportive for them to have to live like that.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah...what the greatest generation did, if you will...or if you would...before me, before you probably, It’s our WWII and before that my dad in Korea....they fought and bled for our country to keep it safe and keep it free.....and we’re just kind of throwing it away.  We are just kind of throwing it away and don’t think a thing about it and that’s what’s sad.  The work ethic...there are still a lot of hard working men and women out there, no doubt, but there are a large subset of people who just don’t want to hit a lick at a snake...if they can have something given to them if they follow a set of rules, they’ll do it; they don’t care and the good ole hard working Americans got a tough road ahead of them, I’m afraid.\n\n     \n\n\nDenise Kemp: I think what bothers me the most right now is the lack of people that are patriotic; that love their country and wants what’s best for their country instead of what’s best for them and it’s sad to me that they might grow up not knowing the way that is.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Now, I wasn’t the only 50 year old going into those; there were a lot of people...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: But, you were......no, there weren’t that many.... (Laughing)...there were some...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, when I ......you’d be surprised...when I was at basic and I was fixing to deploy, there were a lot of doctors older than I was...they were surgeons:  general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, ENT surgeons...\n\nDenise Kemp: Wasn’t that ENT guy like 72 or something? ...And he was going to Iraq..\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Yeah, 72 years old and he was still going to Iraq...they were leaving either retirement, or a good practice, or a good life to go over there because they had strong feelings about our country.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Because they felt like it’s the right thing to do...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Patriotic people who were medical....nurses and doctors...nurses were over there too.\n\nDenise Kemp: I certainly wasn’t ecstatic that he was going over there ...let me tell ya.\n\n   \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: (Laughing).....I bet.....\n\nDenise Kemp: But, we lived through it...you know....\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah.....\n\nBreak right here....I forgot a couple of questions that I wanted to ask.... \n\nDo a paragraph or two on electronic medical records...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well when I first started practicing, it was all paper; that’s all it was.  Electronic medical records are a wonderful tool if used properly, but they can become a monster as well.  I think that back when Dr. Crowe wrote maybe three sentences in a chart....I’m not sure if medicine was better then than it is now...but we have to “document” everything under the sun.....we have to put so much effort into a note that the patient suffers, I think.  The quality of care allegedly is made better by that and I think the opposite is true.  I think the actual hands-on taking care of patients is 5, 10, or 20% of the visit and the other 80% is documenting.  The electronic record is part of it, it collects the data and gathers information, and it’s good for rapid records....to find a note or find information...because you can dig through it quicker instead of digging through a paper chart and having to go from smart-tech records, like we used to.  You can find a note quicker, but I think the overall quality of care has been the opposite of what they thought it would be.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you think the younger people are dealing with electronic medical records better than we do?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think so; they’ve grown up with a computer in their hand...you know.  They do that, but still I fear....back when you and I were young doctors, there was a thing called a history and physical and we’d actually ask a patient what was wrong, take a history, examine them, and then order a test or two...maybe an x-ray, a blood test, or whatever...now, they order all the lab and x-rays ahead of time and then, go look.  So, it’s almost the opposite of what it should be and I think the part of being a clinician...we were clinicians, clinical doctors, hands on doctors...and now, they are more technicians.  They are more technical doctors, I think.  Now, the surgeons still do surgery....they cut, sew, and put people back together.....but I think the ole family doctor who actually put his hands on a patient, listened to a patient, took a history, made a good physical exam, and drew a treatment plan....unfortunately has suffered with electronic medical records.\n\n \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Telemedicine had its beginnings a couple of decades ago, but it really took life during Covid...\n\nDr. Len Kemp: It did...Uh huh...\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Talk about telemedicine a little bit and the impact it’s had on your practice and the impact in had on what you do.\n\nDr. Len Kemp: Well, I was probably 99% steadfast against it in the beginning, because I thought it was poor medicine; but, Covid brought that out differently.  Everybody was so afraid of Covid that they wouldn’t even go see a patient; they were scared to even have them in the building.  Because if you did, the government would shut you down; if you had somebody walk through the door who had Covid, you’d have to decontaminate for five days before you could even open your practice. So, we started seeing people by telemedicine and we would have them come out to the parking lot and test them out there for Covid, flu, strep, or whatever.  Our nurses would go out and test them as carefully as they could and we’d basically go by what the test said and what their\n\nhistory was.  You know, we’d get their history...of course, we did not do a physical...and by what the test results would tell us, our own intuition by talking to them, and putting their symptoms together, we’d treat them.  If it wasn’t for that, we might not would’ve survived though; as a business...we probably would not have.  Our business, even with that, was probably down at least a third, if not half, for a year or two compared to what it had been because people were afraid to go to the doctor. They were afraid to even come in for a checkup if they were healthy....they were afraid to come in, because they might catch something.  They might catch the virus or something....     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Do you think telemedicine, with the push from Covid, will play a role in your practice from here on out?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: I think there will be a small role there.  People who are truly... for routine things: like just need a refill or something, or a question that needs answering....that for some reason legitimately cannot come in for whatever reason, I think it would be a good thing.  Another thing I see would be some specialties, like psychiatry or something like that where they basically just talk to them anyway and say, “You doing ok?” or “is the medicine helping or not helping?”....that would be a role for there.”  But in family medicine, I think there will be an increasing role for telemedicine for the fact that it is convenient for the patient and somewhat convenient for the doctor.\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: You may or may not know this but when T-1 lines became available in the mid ‘90s, Birch Tree Community...who takes care of seriously mentally ill patients....started doing telemedicine med checks and interventions because they’ve got remote locations all over the state.  Rick Smith over at the Med Center in the psychiatry department also was doing remote stuff back as late as almost 30 years ago now.   \n\nDr. Len Kemp: Uh huh...\n\n     \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Break....\n\nThank you, very much.  This was wonderful and I have enjoyed this tremendously. Is there anything else that either of you would like to throw in here that we haven’t talked about already?\n\nDr. Len Kemp: No, I just think medicine is still a wonderful profession and nursing is too; nurse practitioners are a blend of that now.  But, people still need people to take care of them and help them through various crises...mentally, emotionally, physically, or whatever...through various afflictions and medical calamities;  just normal everyday colds, sore throats and things like that.. or blood pressure and diabetes....they still need that and they need somebody who will take care of them that they’re not just a number or another person to see to do an A1-C on to see what we can do...that they actually listen to them and take care of them.  I think that’s where family medicine has its forte, if you will.  Its calling is to actually get hands-on with people...them, their families, and frequently we’ll have 3-4 generations; especially back when we did OB.  We’d have maybe 3-4 generations in the room at the same time\n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Yeah....\n\nDr. Len Kemp: The newborn, the mother, the grandma, and the great grandma would all be together and we took care of all four generations. They were able to come to us with whatever question and if we couldn’t answer it, they’d know...they did know that we’d ask for consult or refer them to someone.  They need someone that they know they can go to and that they can contact on a human level, if you will, to get some good information and good medical care.\n\n    \n\nDr. Sam Taggart: Excellent; thank you very much.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2312/collection_resources/97842/file/194893#t=0.0,5347.80913"}]}]}]}