Mainline Health Clinics are a common name here in Southeast Arkansas. Most people are familiar with names like Joe H. Wharton and Kerry Pennington, but many may be unfamiliar with John Austin Beatty, who is somewhat of a newcomer to Mainline. Recently, I sat down with all three doctors and talked about patient care, medical advancements, and how medicine has changed.
Dr. Beatty, who has been with Mainline since October 2023, was drawn to the clinic by the opportunity to work in primary care. After Karen Richardson transitioned to a new role at the school, Dr. Beatty saw a chance to step in and provide care to the established patient population. Living locally in Monticello, this position offered a perfect balance of professional opportunity and proximity to home.
With a background of only a few years out of residency, Dr. Beatty was also eager to work alongside more seasoned professionals.
“Doctor Wharton and Doctor Pennington are here, and as someone who graduated from residency only a couple of years ago, I felt then, and I still feel now, that I wanted to work in a place where I would be able to work with other doctors who have so much more experience than I do,” Beatty said. “There’s training and studying, but there’s no substitute for multiple years of experience.”
Another key factor that drew Dr. Beatty to Mainline is the clinic's focus on holistic patient care.
“When we think about people, we think about the whole person,” Beatty explained.
With access to a wide range of social programs, including social workers and counselors, Mainline's approach extends beyond just treating physical ailments. This comprehensive care model is something that Dr. Beatty values deeply, recognizing that it sets Mainline apart from many other healthcare providers.
Building relationships with new patients is also a priority for Dr. Beatty, who hopes that patients feel heard and valued during their visits.
“I want people to feel like their issues were addressed and that they were truly listened to,” he noted.
Following my conversation with Dr. Beatty, I sat down with Dr. Wharton and Dr. Pennington.
When asked what has changed in medicine since they started practicing, their answers were very insightful.
“When I started practicing medicine, a patient would be prescribed medication and if that didn’t work, we’d try a different medication,” Wharton said. “Now we’ve gotten into so much more of ‘what else is going on’ and looking deeper into things, diet, and other issues with human biochemistry and physiologies that you have to look into. There are many other things to consider now.”
Dr. Pennington’s answer was different, addressing an area that people often wonder about as well.
“Technology,” Pennington noted, pointing to the impact of innovations like robotics, stents, and advances in cardiovascular medicine. “Both from the standpoint of electronic medical records and how we deal with the interaction with our patients to technology in surgery and cardiovascular medicine and robotics and stents and things like that.”
Despite these advancements, both doctors find importance in making sure that their patients feel like they’ve been heard.
“My approach to patient care has remained fundamentally the same,” Wharton explained. “As far as interacting with patients, it really hasn’t changed. You try to find out what’s going on and help them and reassure them that you’re trying to find out what is going on with them. Try to make them feel like they are important.”
One aspect that Dr. Pennington feels changes in technology have affected is the small-town personal feel.
"We’ve lost some of the personal interaction with patients due to time constraints and the need to meet technical requirements,” he said. “I miss the days of the country doctors who knew their patients and families personally.”
However, Dr. Pennington also recognizes the positives of the same changes.
"On the plus side, we’re better at documenting chronic illnesses and following treatment protocols, which ultimately leads to more standardized, well-rounded care for patients,” Pennington explained.
Reflecting on their long career, the doctor finds fulfillment in moments where they could make a real difference in patients' lives.
“I enjoyed delivering babies,” Wharton said. “That was always joyful, and a large majority of the time, it was a pleasant happy outcome. I’ve enjoyed taking care of friends, neighbors, and things like that. That’s one reason I wanted to come back to Warren. I like to have my patients feel like they can depend on me and get in touch with me.”
“Looking back, there were patients who were very I'll, and I was able to in some small way make them better,” Pennington said. “I had a very premature birth at one point early on, and that patient is still alive to this day and in their 40s. There are people who had infectious diseases, heart attacks, or heart failure and were very ill, and to be able to treat those patients at our hospital and our clinics and see them be able to get well and still do well is very rewarding. It’s probably the most satisfying part.”
