James Frederick:  

Not being a particular fan of social networking, I haven't done anything with this site in the 3 years I've been a member. But to recover at least a little bit of the subscription cost, I thought I'd finally participate. After SJA, I graduated from St. John's University in Collegeville, MN, and then graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1972. I met Connie Reiter, a student nurse in Minneapolis, at one of my fraternity mixers, and we were married the evening of my last day of medical school on St. Patrick's day in 1972--so we are nearing our 40th anniversary (today's date 1-12-2012). I interned at St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital (MN) and then went back to Jamestown for 3 years--the mission there being to determine whether I wanted to stay in primary care Internal Medicine, or to sub-specialize. I opted for primary care, and even though I intended to return to Minneapolis for residency, a brand new Internal Medicine program had just opened up in Fargo under the auspices of UND. I graduated in the first class of that program, and was one of the first 2 chief residents. In 1979, I joined the Internal Medicine department at then Fargo Clinic (subsequently called MeritCare, and now Sanford Health). But for 20 winters, Connie and I wondered if that one would be the last in the cold windy flatland, and finally we moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1993, relocating from the largest clinic in ND to the largest one in AR. It was in Fort Smith that a bit of an odyssey began as medicine was changing so quickly. The clinic was bought by now defunct Phycor, and fell apart in about 3 years. I worked for the Fayetteville, AR VA for 3 years, and then moved back to Fort Smith when...Expand for more