HAWKINS CLINIC HOSPITAL

Dr. M.C. Hawkins opened Hawkins Clinic Hospital in July of 1940. It was located on the corner of Center Street and the boulevard going in to Harding University. Eventually, Harding University bought this property, demolished the building, and turned the land into a parking lot.

Hawkins Clinic Hospital had 26 hospital beds. It also had a clinic, a surgery room, a delivery room, a littlenursery, and several examination rooms. Dr. Brown first learned of opportunities in Searcy when he was at the medical school of the Universityof Tennessee.

"I saw a note on the bulletin board saying that

Dr. Hawkins wanted a doctor to come and join him. I had lived in Searcy a year, and a small town appealed to my wife and me. I came over and talked to him, andwe worked out a deal where I would come and workwith him," Dr. Brown said.

Dr. Brown said he learned a lot about medicine from Dr. Hawkins. "He was an excellent general surgeon for his time. And he was a person who was honest and very concerned about patients always getting the best of care. He was a little abrasive at times, but if you knew him, you knew that his bark wasn't as loud as it sounded. But he was a good man and a good doctor. I gained a lot of experience working with him." Dr. Brown practiced with Dr. Hawkins until he was called back to active duty in the military. While he was gone, Dr. Formby came to Searcy and joined Dr. Hawkins.So when Dr. C.W. Jackson came to Judsonia in 1955,

Searcy had two hospitals and eight physicians. At Dr. Hugh Edwards were the two practicing physicians. Dr. Hawkins, Dr. A.R. Brown, Dr. Tom Formby, and Dr. Bill Davis worked at Hawkins Clinic Hospital.Dr. Jackson and Dr. Adair, who practiced in Bald Knob, used both hospitals.

"The two hospitals w e r e — I would say—not too friendly towards the staff of the other one. There was a lot of competition," Dr. Jackson said. "Both of them treated me very very well, and both doctors allowed me on their staffs. I let my patients decide as to which hospital they wanted to go to. And I got along fine with both hospitals.

There was no problem with them from my standpoint." Dr. M.C. Hawkins announced June 12,1963, that he was closing the hospital division of the Hawkins Clinic Hospital at the end of that month. The clinic was to remain in operation where Dr. Hawkins planned to continue his practice of surgery, gynecology, and diagnosis. Patients were to be transferred to the Rodgers Hospital after June 30.

"When Dr. Hawkins closed his hospital, we really began to feel the necessity of having better hospital facilities,"Dr. Brown said. Dr. Martin C. Hawkins opened Hawkins Clinic Hospital in July of 1940. "We called him 'Hawk,'" Dr. Jack Gardner said.

Source: White County Medical Center Publication 2006