Long School of Medicine Alumnus Remembered for Pioneering Legacy
In the early 1970s, medical student Robert “Bob” Sanford Hamilton Jr. called his classmate Mary L. Anderson around 2 a.m. one day to ask for help. A steer was loose near his rent house close to Floyd Curl Drive and Wurzbach Road. While he rode his horse, she used her car and its headlights to help him nudge the steer to his home and its large yard. In the morning, he was able to get the steer’s owner to pick up his livestock.
Today’s medical students probably have a hard time envisioning the university campus surrounded by open land and meandering cattle. With 108 fellow classmates, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Anderson graduated in 1975 from the then-University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio, which is now known as the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Hamilton died at age 74 on Dec. 14, 2021, at his ranch in Wetmore, Colorado.
Dr. Anderson recalls meeting Dr. Hamilton during their freshman year. “By virtue of Bob’s affability, we became friends. Also, he was an outdoorsman, and I enjoyed outdoor adventures, which gave release to the stress of our classwork,” she said. The two explored the Texas Hill Country, which Dr. Anderson, who now resides in Louisiana, considers her second home.
“Bob was definitely a man of adventure, but, as a classmate, he was a great listener and a loyal friend,” she recalled. “We were team members in our pre-clinical labs and in clinical. Bob gave maximum effort and was open about sharing his knowledge. He was an exemplary person and student.”
Dr. Anderson said she predicted during their first year that “Bob would be a screaming success professionally and financially. As a student, he made money once selling used tires off his truck!”
Dr. Hamilton did go on to become a pioneer in a burgeoning field – emergency medicine – and was the first board certified emergency medicine physician in Colorado, where he initially worked at Denver General ER. After seeing the dire need for emergency medicine in rural areas, he became a pilot to help staff those isolated ERs. He eventually attained instrument-rated pilot status.
Early in his career he worked in the Parkview Emergency Room in Pueblo, Colorado, and established the first ER doctors in the hospital and created the first ambulance service. Previously, physicians of every medical specialty rotated in the ER, and local funeral homes served as the ambulance transportation service. Dr. Hamilton also started an air ambulance service in Pueblo.
In the 1980s, this medical innovator established Emergicare, freestanding emergency rooms staffed by physicians. During 38 years of operation, Emergicare became known for an exceptional level of care, explained his daughter, Elizabeth R. Knies, MD, who graduated from the Long School of Medicine in 2011. “He made sure these freestanding ERs were accessible and affordable to all. He also made sure people could be seen in a timely manner.”
Dr. Hamilton retired from medicine in January 2020, but he continued working as a real estate investor with numerous projects throughout Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. Dr. Knies said he started out early as an enterprising businessman; her dad bought his first piece of property – a one-acre parcel in Colorado – at the age of 10 at the Colorado State Fair using his paper route money.
Although Dr. Hamilton was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and graduated from high school there, he made Colorado his home. “My father was always the cowboy with his horses and cattle. Whether on the ranch or in the ER, you always have to think quick on your feet. He was a quick thinker and could make the acute decisions,” she said.
Dr. Knies, who also specialized in emergency medicine, said he was a loving father to her and her two siblings, Robert Hamilton III, MD, and Joshua Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton enjoyed 22 years with his wife, Joan Harrell Hamilton. He had nine grandchildren who he adored.
“In addition to being a great family man, we were proud of him for being willing to take risks and open new doors,” she said. “He always protected his doctors and understood how much they had given up for their profession. At the same time, he was a proponent to make sure patients got the best care and correct diagnoses. Until the day he died, he was taking calls about patients and referring them to make sure they got the outstanding care.”
Dr. Anderson said Dr. Hamilton’s death was sudden and unexpected. When she spoke at his memorial service before 600 family members, friends, and local residents, she shared a story from the spring of their second year in medical school.
“We were talking with two professors when one of them decides to become prophetic. He wanted to share with us what he knew and what to expect in life. Our professor told us that the intensity of medical school and the relationships forged are like those of a military unit in combat. Teamwork means you have to give five-star effort to benefit your classmates and the patient.
“This professor said that one day we would remember his words: ‘You will be lifelong friends because of the intensity of your teamwork and the magnitude of your work together,’” Dr. Anderson recalled. “This was a razor-sharp moment; this prophesy came to pass. This small group of classmates has a continuity of friendship that was forged in a different way. Bob was part of this core group for almost 50 years. He was a great friend who is missed and will be remembered.”
Written by: Catherine Deyarmond
