Dr. Ed Hill now has the chance to use his RV more often.
Friday, Hill walked into his clinic for the last time as he retired from Russell Medical after nearly 30 years with the hospital. Hill’s medical journey started in Auburn and ended just down 280 in Alexander City. His retirement, however, will now allow him more time to see his family out west.
Hill graduated from Auburn High School and later Auburn University, earning a degree in chemical engineering. He then attended South Alabama for medical school on a naval scholarship. In Mobile is where Hill learned the valuable lessons he used to run his practice for almost three decades.
“When I graduated, (the military) owned me for a number of years,” Hill said with a grin. “The military is the best training for learning how to operate in an organization.”
Hill did his residency split up over three years at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. He then attended flight surgeon school and became a flight surgeon for 2 ½ years at Naval Air Station Meridian and aboard the U.S.S. Lexington.
Two years in Orlando helped round out his eight total years in the navy. After almost a decade of service to his country, the time had come to switch things up
“I enjoyed the navy, I loved it,” Hill said. “But I had kids and the deployments were getting rough, so it was time to make a career change.”
Hill began interviewing across Alabama and narrowed his selection down to about 10 cities where he and his family were going to live and he would practice. Of those cities, Alex City emerged as the favorite.
“I was familiar with (Alexander City),” Hill said. “I loved Lake Martin.”
Hill was brought on by Russell Medical as a physician for about two years before the entire hospital staff was let go. Unsure of his next step, Hill figured he might as well set off on his own.
“I went out and got a little business loan and started my own practice and have been doing that ever since,” Hill said.
As an independent contractor under the Russell Medical umbrella, Hill was a primary care physician for adults for 29 years. He raised his four children in Alex City, all attending and playing soccer at Benjamin Russell. His four kids would later go on to give Hill 10 grandchildren.
As an adult physician, Hill is the “gatekeeper” to an adult's “medical home.” He regularly sees patients for their general needs, but can refer individuals to more specialized practices as needed. Like Hill did with coming back to the state of Alabama, his patients always find their way back to him.
“They always have to come back to their medical home,” Hill said.
Over the course of his practicing in Alexander City, Hill has quite literally grown with its population. He has seen his patients age and change over the years. Some of those patients even attended his retirement celebration.
“It is interesting to see people for almost 30 years as patients,” Hill said. “It is gratifying and rewarding to see them grow through life. In my case, I see people grow old.”
While many of those rewards are emotional, Hill does receive a physical award or two from time to time, namely vegetables from the gardens of those he treats.
“A lot of those people really appreciate you maintaining as much of their health as you can through that whole process,” Hill said. “It is really rewarding.”
Without the backing of his current staff and the skills he learned in the military, starting out on his own may not have ever materialized. The organizational skills learned across his time in the navy gave him the foundation he thought he needed to start his own business. Over 30 years later, he was absolutely right.
“You learn how to handle employees, deal with any kind of HR issue. Anything across the board,” Hill said. “To me, that is what is invaluable to me about the military. In my personal opinion, everyone should spend time in the military to learn like that.”
Hill’s retirement will mean one of his receptionists, Nancy, will also retire. One of his nurses, Olivia, will continue to finish up school but is already highly sought after by employers.
For Hill, he now has time to watch his own family grow.
He has property on Lake Martin, but might spend more of his free time on the road. He has family out west and after years practicing medicine, it is time to transition once more, this time into practicing being a grandfather.
“(I am going to) hang out with grandchildren,” Hill said. “I have some land in Chambers County, and I think I am going to get into forestry. But the grandbabies will be the main thing. We will be in the RV traveling across the country.”
