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Physician of The Year Finalist: Dr. Joe Martindale, Saline Med Peds

3 min read

Dr. Joe Martindale is the kind of doctor you don’t much see anymore. In an age of hyper-specialization, the 85-year-old physician cared for his patients – generations of them – from cradle to grave.

“I find caring for patients, being involved in their lives and watching their families grow to be the most rewarding part of medicine,” he said. “Family medicine was the only field of medicine that interested me. In that era, we did almost everything — OB, surgery, orthopedics and basically anything that came through our doors. I liked being a part of patients’ families. We were who they turned to in time of need.”

Martindale’s 60-year career in medicine was sparked when, as an eighth-grader growing up in rural Hope, he set his sights on his vocation and never looked back.

“My grandfather wanted me to do something other than being a farmer,” he said. “I had observed our family doctor when I was growing up and through him I decided medicine was what I wanted to do.”

Upon graduating from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 1957, he spent a year’s internship at Arkansas Baptist and two years serving Uncle Sam before setting up his practice in Benton. Today, he’s still practicing in Benton, through Saline Med Peds, a practice he shares with his son Mark, a physician, and his granddaughter Ashley, a physician assistant.

Martindale’s family legacy in health care goes even farther to include another physician son, a nurse daughter and grandchildren who include a pharmacist, a junior medical student and a soon-to-be physical therapy student.

“I always encourage young people to go into health care,” he said. “I can only thank God for allowing me to continue to see patients and to witness the majority of my family adopting health care as their profession.”

In addition to the family practice, Martindale has been on active staff at Saline Memorial Hospital for 56 years and is active in addiction counseling, leading 12-step recovery programs for 38 years. He’s served on the Benton Counseling Clinic’s Board of Directors, worked as a physician for Saline Memorial Hospice and founded the Arkansas Medical Society’s Physician Health Committee in the 1980s.

Still, he is a little stunned at the thought that he might be awarded for his longevity and depth of service. After all, he was just doing what the job called for.

“I never thought I did anything special. I just go to work every day and do what I can to make someone else’s life better that day,” he said.

Highlights
In addition to treating generations of patients at every stage of life, Dr. Joe Martindale has crafted a long family medical legacy. His two sons are physicians, his daughter a nurse, and among his grandchildren are a pharmacist, a physician assistant, a junior medical student and another who will be in physical therapy.

Return to Arkansas Business Health Care Heroes 2016.

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