HME provider L. Jack Clark, RRT, CRT, PA, was fond of ending
many of his conversations with the phrase, “Now go be
successful.” Clark himself certainly was, and friends and
colleagues throughout the HME sector were saddened to learn of his
death April 7 at age 64.
A member of HomeCare’s Editorial Advisory Board,
Clark was clearly a pioneer respiratory practitioner as his license
number was one of the first ever issued, according to his
staff.
After working as a nursing technician at Georgia Baptist Hospital
while he was in high school, Clark said he soon discovered the
developing field of oxygen therapy. In 1967, he graduated from
Emory University’s School of Respiratory Therapy.
At age 20, Clark became assistant chief respiratory therapist at
Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, then two years later,
chief respiratory therapist and administrative director of the
Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. He went on to open the
first respiratory therapy department at Georgia’s Spalding
Regional Hospital.
In 1979, Clark founded Mid-Georgia Respiratory Homecare in Griffin,
Ga., where he spent the rest of his career caring for home-based
patients. His approach to respiratory care included “treating
the whole person,” as Clark said. He often shared his
writings and research on wellness and prevention with others,
including HomeCare’s staff.
Clark’s company specializes in accepting high-risk cases that
others turn down, among them indigent patients and those who need
palliative care or hospice. He once told a reporter he spent about
60 hours transitioning such patients from hospital to home.
“He was the only practitioner I know who would turn off the
cell phone and spend days with his patients, making sure they were
comfortable and had what they needed, assuring and comforting the
families,” said Teresa Tatum, executive director of the
Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers.
“I don’t think Jack knew how to type an email,”
Tatum said. “He practiced the lost art of handwriting notes!
I have a file folder of notes he sent with suggestions and
encouragement on leadership and improving the association …
Jack was truly an icon in home care and will be missed by
many.”
“Sometimes there is the rare moment when you realize that you
have just met a truly great person. That was the feeling I had 15
years ago when I met Jack. He validated that feeling with each
meeting or phone call in the years since,” said well-known
HME consultant Wallace Weeks. “With each encounter I got to
witness eagerness to help others, the embodiment of professionalism
and a positive spirit that made each visit one of the better parts
of that day.”
Clark served on the board of the American Lung Association of
Georgia and as a trustee of the Grandfather Home for Children in
Banner Elk, N.C.
“I've had a great career,” Clark told the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution in a 2007 interview. “I do good
work and have great outcomes, and that's my biggest
satisfaction.”
Clark is survived by his wife Regenia; daughter Gwyn Nielsen and
son-in-law Maj. Shannon Edward Nielsen of Fort Hood, Texas; sister
Natalie Wilson of Sharpsburg, Ga.; brother Andy and wife Kathy
Clark of Greensboro, N.C.; and various nieces and nephews.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Boy Scouts of America, American
Lung Association or Grandfather Home for Children, P.0. Box 98,
Banner Elk, N.C. 28205.
Monday, April 11, 2011