Three pediatricians at the McComb Children’s Clinic — Dr. Tom Carey, Dr. Shelby Smith and Dr. Pat Tarpy are set to retire Nov. 6 after serving McComb children for more than 130 years combined.
Carey and Smith started the first pediatric practice in McComb in 1971, and Tarpy joined the duo a year later.
“I enjoy working with children and families because children tend to get well quickly,” Tarpy said. “We get them off to a good start of health.”
Dr. Smith, half-jokingly said, “I second that. Kids get well.”
He said, “I was told to hurry and treat them before they get well.”
Before MRIs and CAT scans were available, doctors had to think outside the box to find out what was wrong with a patient.
“We had to put our hands on them,” Smith said.
He added that during those times, there was no neonatology or specialties that advanced.
“It was pediatrics and allergists,” Smith said. “Those things were just starting. We were more of a referral thing.”
Dr. Carey, who started the practice, said doctors had to work with what they had.
All three doctors watched as technology advanced over the years, but they all agreed nothing compared to what vaccines have done in the medical field.
“The number-one saver of human lives is vaccines,” Smith said.
“You would think it would be sewer systems or something like that, but not everyone has those. Almost everyone has vaccines,” he said.”
The Haemophilia influenzae vaccine, or HIB, was developed to prevent bacterial meningitis, a sometimes fatal infection.
Smith said before the vaccine was developed, there was almost constantly a child infected with meningitis.
“After the vaccine came out, meningitis was almost unheard of,” he said.
Carey said he remembers when he was in medical school and there was a ward dedicated to polio patients with iron lungs.
“By the time I started my residency, they were out,” he said.
In 1965 and ’66, Carey said there was an outbreak of rubella, a viral infection that causes a rash and is extremely contagious.
“After the vaccine came out, it was almost unheard of,” he said. “These things make a huge difference.”
Time may have changed the course of diseases and technology, but one thing that hasn’t changed is parents.
Tarpy said while current issues are different than in the past since information is so readily available, parents still have one goal — to protect their children.
“All parents want the best for their children and have been appreciative of our efforts,” he said. “That’s the vast majority of parents and always has been.”
It could be argued that Internet information makes things more difficult for practitioners of modern medicine, but Tarpy said it really isn’t that big of an obstacle.
“We know to stay on our toes because of the misinformation that’s out there,” he said.
Smith said he knows of examples where children have unusual diseases, and parents helped him by researching them online.
“She educated me,” Smith said of one parent in particular.
Smith said coming to McComb after his residency in Jackson was a good fit, and Tarpy agreed.
Tarpy said the location was only one of many reasons he chose to practice with Carey and Smith.
“The doctors took care of everybody,” he said. “If you had sick kids we took care of them, and if they were in the hospital, those doctors would take care of them.”
Tarpy said that kind of care is still in effect today.
When the clinic began, the doctors had one nurse practitioner. Now they have three.
Carey said one nurse he described as a “class act” who worked with them for 45 years was Gidge Clayton.
“The first day we opened, she brought her son in and said she had thought about putting in an application,” he said. “That night, the husband of one of our nurses died, and I called Gidge and asked her if she would come to work for a little while.”
Carey said Clayton never left after that, working her way up from LPN to nurse practioneer.
After retirement, Tarpy said he plans to move closer to his grandchildren in Texas.
Smith said he plans to spend his time playing golf and traveling.
Carey will take care of his wife and home.
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A reception for the three retirees will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the sixth-floor auditorium at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center.
Southwest Health System and the McComb Children’s Clinic are sponsoring the come-and-go event. Those planning to attend are asked to email Tina Brumfield at tina.brumfield@smrmc.com or leave a message for her at 250-4283.
