Our History
The year was 1963. Dr. Harold Hedges and Dr. Jim Flack had both graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. They had completed a rotating internship at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center and spent 3 ½ years as U.S. Navy flight surgeons stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.
Upon their return, these two close friends decided to go into practice together. They chose North University Avenue (then on the western edge of Little Rock) as the site, and Little Rock Family Practice was off to a start. At the time, there was one employee who acted as receptionist, typist, nurse and lab technician. The doctors’ wives filled in – between raising children.
Underestimating how much the practice would grow, the doctors had to move just six months later into a larger space. In 1965, Dr. William Wade joined the clinic and the doctors began a 15-year relationship with a local hospital staffing the emergency room.
Family practice was different in those days. House calls were made almost daily and the three doctors assisted surgeons with many of the patients they had referred for surgical procedures. Lab procedures were limited, all done by hand, one at a time. Infections were treated with tetracycline, penicillin and sulfa drugs. Office x-ray options were limited and were of poor quality compared to today.
In 1970, Dr. Robert McGowan joined the clinic as the fourth physician. Today, there are two clinics with a total of 12 physicians and 52 employees.
Eight physicians are located at Little Rock Family Practice West in a modern facility at 4208 N. Rodney Parham Road. Little Rock Family Practice Central has four physicians and is located in a virtually new facility at 701 N. University Avenue.
While the way we practice family medicine may have changed over the years, and while our diagnostic technology has become state-of-the-art, the physicians at Little Rock Family Practice still adhere to the same traditions of personalized, warm, friendly and compassionate care established in 1963.
Our Founder
Harold Hedges
Dr. Hedges graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, with a Bachelor of Science in Medicine degree. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in 1958. He graduated from the U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine in 1960, spending 3 ½ years in the Navy as a Naval Flight Surgeon. Returning to Little Rock in 1963, he co-founded Little Rock Family Practice Clinic with Dr. Jim Flack.
He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, has served as President of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians and served two terms as President of the Pan American Allergy Society. He was Arkansas Family Physician of the Year in 1986.
The Harold H. Hedges III M.D. Endowed Scholarship in Family Medicine was established in 2000 by colleagues, friends and patients.
Dr. Hedges teaches locally and nationally. He and his wife have three sons and seven grandchildren. His hobbies are gardening, fly fishing and caring for his three horses.