LAURA J. MONDUL | BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
WISE, Va. — Dr. Joseph Smiddy is a pulmonologist with a big heart.
A native of Southwest Virginia, Smiddy has always had a special interest in the welfare of the people in the region. After graduating from the University of Virginia Medical School, Smiddy returned to the area to practice at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Sixteen years ago, Smiddy started working with The Health Wagon, a nonprofit, mobile health unit providing service to residents of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee who cannot afford health care. He retired from Holston Valley three years ago and is the medical director of the Health Wagon. His work has helped raise health care for the medically underserved to a new level.
“Joe is a deep humanitarian and is probably the most charitable doctor that I’ve ever known,” said longtime friend Don Pippin. “He has performed miracles in his mission work and has also solicited others to help. His is truly an extraordinary person for his community service.”
Smiddy has been active in outreach for many years. In addition to his work with The Health Wagon, he has been on 50 foreign mission trips, visiting everywhere from the jungles of Central America to the heights of the Andes Mountains in South America. When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, he was quick to pack up and head south to assist.
Unfortunately, with all of the damage from the hurricane, there was no way to get a chest X-ray for victims, and rescue workers were seeing a lot of pneumonia and tuberculosis. So Smiddy returned home and outfitted a tractor-trailer with a mobile X-ray machine and headed back to New Orleans to do several hundred chest X-rays for free.
The mobile unit was a hit, so Smiddy attended tractor-trailer school and received his commercial driver’s license and now drives the trailer across the region to Remote Area Medical events. To date, he has performed about 7,000 free chest X-rays and hundreds of pulmonary function tests. He also drives the unit to assist other charities, for example, a recent event for veterans held at Healing Hands in Bristol.
“We live in a belt of lung cancer, COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] and asthma,” said Smiddy. “Lung disease is very prevalent in this geographic area, between allergens, smoking, coal dust and lung fungus, we see a lot more lung problems than other areas of the country.”
Smiddy points out that The Health Wagon is as much a teaching tool as it is a way to deliver health care. The X-ray unit is digital and state-of-the-art, so workers can show patients their results, as well as results from pulmonary function tests, to help explain the diagnosis and encourage healthier lifestyles.
“We in America make health care all about pills, and much of what we do in free health care has nothing to do with pills,” explained Smiddy. “One of the most common things I run into is people who are short of breath and flunk their pulmonary function test. We encourage them to exercise more, quit smoking and maybe shave a pound or two, and then they are not so out of breath.”
According to Smiddy, East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia are seeing an epidemic in obesity and associated cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary disease related to smoking. He also notes the severe problem with dental care in the area. He cites the economic crash of 2008 as a major contributing factor to the decline in health and dental problems in the area.
“We have a disaster in dental care and diseases because people cannot afford preventive care, and all of this creates a real need for free health care and a real need for our charities,” said Smiddy.
At present, The Health Wagon is the only source of health care for about 9,000 patients across the Mountain Empire.
As a pulmonologist, Smiddy also treats patients who struggle with sleep apnea. Because of a grant that Smiddy wrote to the American Sleep Disorders Association, the program is now able to offer free CPAPs to patients in need.
“Free health care is not something that is intuitive,” Smiddy said. “Harvard does not know anything about how to provide free health care. You don’t learn free health care in medical school or in large hospitals. You have to be out in rural areas, and you have to learn how to inspire volunteers and how to work in low cost settings.”
For his exhaustive work in providing free health care to those in need, Smiddy recently won the Unsung Heroes in Health Care Award from the Virginia Health Care Foundation. An award of $2,000 will be granted to The Health Wagon as a result of Smiddy’s achievement.
“Dr. Smiddy is a true unsung hero that has an exquisite ability to care for others and is a true visionary,” said Dr. Teresa Gardner, executive director of The Health Wagon. “No person could be more deserving of such an award and it’s such an honor to work alongside him. He is one of my heroes.”
