BSA Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic, Inc.

History

In 1956 Dr. Tom Duke began the practice of Internal Medicine in Amarillo, Texas in the Doctors Building at 1422 Tyler. By mid-1960 his practice had grown to the point that he needed additional physicians. At that time he began to formulate the idea of a group composed of specialists in Internal Medicine.

Dr. Duke drew on his knowledge of procedures learned at Yale Diagnostic Clinic and after several visits to and consultations with the Houston Diagnostic Clinic and the Kelsey-Seebold Clinic in Houston, Texas, the basic ideas which resulted in the development of Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic were formulated.

In 1965, Dr. H. Wayne Smith contacted Dr. Tom Duke about establishing a clinic that could meet the needs of patients in the Panhandle region. At the time the two felt that an undertaking of this magnitude may be premature. Dr. Smith remained optimistic and in 1967 joined Dr. Duke.

Three hundred miles away Dr. John Milton was completing his residency at the V.A. Hospital in Dallas and learned of the idea to build a diagnostic clinic in north Texas. After a few telephone conversations with Dr. Duke, Dr. Milton was en route to Amarillo to learn more about the new plan. "I had been told", chuckles Dr. Milton, "by Austin people that Amarillo dust storms were awful." But upon his arrival to Amarillo on January 10, 1968, he found something totally unexpected. "It was a beautiful sunshiny day," Dr. Milton says. "Not bad weather at all. It was very pretty. Amarillo was not the sandbox that I had been told it was." Dr. Milton was sold on Amarillo and he joined Dr. Smith and Dr. Duke in establishing Amarillo's first comprehensive outpatient diagnostic clinic.

Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic started out modestly. Pooling their resources and debts, the three doctors and a business manager began the practice at the corner of 15th and Tyler streets in the green-trimmed three story Doctors' Building. In October 1968, they officially christened their business "Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic." "We weren't exactly received well in the medical community with a lot of congratulations," Dr. Smith says about the start of Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic. "There were a lot of comments. We received ribbing from the established medical community, but we got a lot of encouragement from lay people, from banks and churches and the paper telling us that this was a great thing for Amarillo."

Despite their dreams, theirs was a modest beginning. For three years Dr. Milton officed in the basement. "It was as big as this desk," he says pointing at his file-covered desk. Dr. Smith and Dr. Duke had offices on the third floor and their X-ray facility was on the second floor. They burned a lot of calories running stairs. "Now," Dr. Milton recalls "we were the only internists with X-ray equipment of any substance." After three years the doctors had developed an extensive patient and referral list. But now they needed more room, more doctors, and better facilities. "We looked at many different locations in Amarillo," Dr. Smith says.

They finally settled on 11 acres across from the Amarillo Medical Center on West 9th Street. "It was big-time prairie," Dr. Smith says, "but we knew that this Medical Center area (Harrington Regional Medical Center) would become the medical services hub of the entire five-state area." This plot of land has now been the home of Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic for over 40 years.

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