Like Father, Like Son
Dr. Mike Hagaman Passes the torch to his son, Dr. Alex Hagaman, continuing the family tradition.
For nearly three decades, there has been a Dr. Hagaman on duty in Mountain Home — Mike Hagaman, to be precise. In 1995, the family practitioner and transplanted Arkansan completed his family practice residency in Texas then promptly skedaddled to what was then Baxter Regional Hospital.
The move was predicated on two things: one, getting the chance to work with Dr. Bob Kerr, and two, that it wouldn’t be for long.
“The only reason I ever came to Mountain Home was to get a chance to work with Dr. Kerr,” Hagaman said. “He was doing everything that I envisioned doing as far as some surgical obstetrics, you know, full care from age zero unto death. That’s what I wanted to do, and that’s what I did.
“Honestly, I told my wife, Kelly we’d come here for about three years, and I would treat this as a fellowship. We loved the community so much that we never left.”
Like most new physicians, the opportunity to put down roots was a coveted one following the well-traveled years of undergrad and medical training. Mike started his journey at Baylor University in Texas, followed by medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, then back to Texas for his family practice residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. By the time the Hagamans landed in Mountain Home, they were toting their eldest son, Alex, who would soon be joined by two little brothers, Ben and Christian.
Mike made sure that he achieved a balance between his professional career and his responsibilities as a dad. He spent ample time with each of the boys, attending their sporting events and activities, as well as letting them tag along to work when necessary and appropriate. Of the three, Alex was most captivated by what his father did as he nipped along at his dad’s heels.
“I remember going up to the hospital with him, you know, if mom was gone,” Alex said. “We’d go up there while he delivered a baby or something like that. He’d stick us in the physician’s lounge for a little while. I think I was about 5 or 6 when I decided this is what I wanted to do.”
Mike insists he never pushed any of the boys to follow in his footsteps but admitted he could see elements of Alex’s nature growing up that told him he would be well-suited for a medical career should he choose to go that route.
“(Alex) may have said, ’Hey Dad, I wanna do what you do,’ but kids sometimes say that, and then they discover other things and change their mind,” Mike said. “I was extremely careful not to put expectations on any of my kids. I let them know early on that they didn’t have to do things the way I did as far as career choice.
“I saw a lot of things in Alex growing up that let me know that he was going to be very successful in whatever career he chose. He was very smart and almost effortlessly made good grades in high school and college. I guess the one thing that really stood out was he always had compassion for people, and that told me if he wanted to be a physician, he would make a great one.”
Alex did, in fact, follow in his father’s footsteps, right down to focusing on family medicine. After graduating from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Alex completed medical school at NYIT in Jonesboro and his residency at CoxHealth in Springfield. During this time, he gained a new perspective on all that went into his father’s life’s work.
“I always knew what my dad did, but I don’t feel like I had a true appreciation for what he did until I started residency,” Alex said. “When I actually started doing those things, you know, have days when I’d do rounds in the hospital, then deliver a baby, then go to clinic, and think about how long Dad had done that and how well, too, it was really eye-opening.”
Contrary to most people’s assumptions, Alex said the two physicians don’t talk shop all that much. However, when they do, he said it’s great to have someone like his dad from whom to gain wisdom.
“There really are some hard days, you know?” Alex said. “When I was in residency, maybe a test didn’t go well or a procedure didn’t go well, and I could just call him and talk to him about it. A lot of times, you just need some reassurance and it weighs a lot more coming from somebody who’s actually done it.”
Alex landed in Mountain Home earlier this year, and it would be something of a Hollywood ending to write that the two physicians were settling in to work together side by side. However, Mike had already set his sights on retirement years before, his last day on the job coming at the end of October. Ironically, Alex’s return reinforced Mike’s decision to slow down and be a full-time grandpa to five grandsons.
“It really lets me have peace of mind that when I leave here, I’m not only leaving my practice in good hands, I’m going to make my practice better,” he said. “I truly believe, as I told my patients, I did the best I could, and I think I did well. I took it to a certain level, but then I probably leveled off the past five or 10 years. It needs to be taken to the next level, and I think Alex and Dr. (Hannah) McCarthy are going to do that.”
Thus will a Dr. Hagaman continue to be on duty in Mountain Home, just as it has been for the past three decades. Asked to describe his feelings about the shoes he has to fill, Alex struggled to get the words out.
“The only thing that I’ve ever cared about is growing up to be half the dad that he is and being a good husband,” said Alex, the father of three. “I saw how he was able to do it, and I thought I would be doing a disservice to my future family if I didn’t pursue that. The way he’s taught me to live with this job is, if you’re giving it your best and you always have the patient’s best interest in mind, then you’re doing things for the right reasons. That gives me great peace of mind, even when I have bad days.
“I did not choose to be a doctor because of medicine at all; I did this because I wanted to be him. Luckily, I fell in love with the medicine side of it, and that makes everything feel right about this for me.”
