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Eulogy for Dr. Phil Aaron by Dr. Chuck Giles 
By Dr. Chuck GilesDelivered at Columbia Baptist Church, 13 Aug 2016 Dr. Phil Aaron was my friend and colleague for 27 years. My first encounter with Phil was in the spring of 1989 during my final year of residency at the University of Louisville. One evening Dr. Phil called my home for a phone conversation. It was not a pleasant one. Dr. Phil stated that he'd heard I was considering coming home. I informed him that was correct. He proceeded to explain to me that would be a grave mistake given the turmoil that things were in at home in the medical community at that time. At that time Dr. Phil was at odds with the hospital administration and with county government and the powers that be. This would be a repetitive occurrence over the next 27 years. We all know Phil, we all know the history. I listened politely but at the end of the conversation I did not give him a decision. I did not heed his advice and in the fall of 1989 returned home. If I had done the proper thing, I would have informed him of my decision. I did not. I did not inform him of my decision for two reasons. First of all, I felt somewhat intimidated by the king, I had heard of his rather cantankerous nature, and being somewhat cantankerous myself, I thought it best we did not get started off in a fit of anger prior to even starting my practice. One to two months went by. We did not talk and we did not see one another. Then one day by happenstance, we arrived simultaneously in the physicians parking lot. Phil had not been using the hospital but he had been forced to put a patient into the hospital when he could not find somewhere else to admit her I later learned. We exited our cars in unison. I knew him by his newspaper photos and I'm sure he knew me in a likewise manner. I am also sure that I had a deer-in-the headlights look. I walked over, offered my hand, he shook it. I stated, "Dr. Aaron, I am Chuck Giles and if there is anything I can do for you please let me know." He said, "thank you for the offer," turned his back to me, walked straight through the door into the hospital. I stood there rather dejected and thought to myself that I had made a grave mistake in coming home. The very next day I got a phone call from Dr. Phil Aaron. Phil said, "I have a young lady who is a type one diabetic who hasn't been able to keep down liquids or food for the past two to three days and has not taken her insulin in that time frame. The glucometer readings in the office read high, high, high -- too high to read and I am sure she is in diabetic ketoacidosis, would you treat her?" I said, "sure, send her over to the ICU." At that time I was only seeing a few patients in the office anyway and I went over and checked the young lady and found her to appear much older than her stated age of early 20s. She actually had a wrinkled appearance from the amount of dehydration that she had. We started her on treatment with IV fluids and IV insulin and I went back to the office and finished seeing a few patients that I had at that time. By mid afternoon things were not going as I had planned she was actually worse. For those in the medical profession she had a PH of 6.7, she had a rather profound metabolic acidosis. I stayed with her in the ICU, adjusting her insulin drips and fluids until about midnight or one. At that time she had turned the corner and actually was looking better. I decided that I would go home for a few hours, sleep and be back promptly at 6 a.m. I planned on having a long note written to try to impress Dr. Aaron with some of my thoughts at that time. Phil was working 8 a.m. to midnight in his office. The only mistake that I made was that I forgot to ask when he routed. I arrived at six only to find that Phil had already been there and left. Phil came at five, and once again I felt somewhat dejected. I was somewhat heartened after I walked into the young lady's room and saw in front of me a beautiful young early 20-year-old female who had just blossomed in the evening as a result of the hydration. It was almost a miraculous site. I went back, reviewed the chart and reviewed my notes that I had written the previous afternoon and evening. The nurses at the desk laughingly said, "look it Phil's note." I turned the page and there was a nine-word statement in typical Phil Aaron prose that summarized her hospital course perfectly. His entry into the medical record read, "from a prune to a rose in 24 hours" -- that's right, "from a prune to a rose in 24 hours". At first, I thought that was somewhat comical and then I thought to myself actually he summarized everything perfectly with that statement and then I realized you know that was actually a compliment. Over the next 27 years, he sent me thousands of patients and was singularly responsible for my ability to establish a successful practice here in Columbia. As I look around, I see others whose professional lives he has impacted in a similar fashion. Phil Aaron was one of the first, if not the first, to obtain a primary care license in the state of Kentucky and thereby enabling him to have an economically feasible model to serve the underserved, under insured, underprivileged and two guarantee their access to care. Also, he was one of the first, if not the first, provider in the state to use mid level practitioner, I.e. nurse practitioner and physician's assistant, in order to give underserved areas access to care. He saw nurse practitioners and physicians assistants not as competitors but as colleagues. He was a brilliant man but did not want others to know it. By far, he was the most fervent, ardent, patient advocate that I have ever known bar none. If you were his patient, you got his all, not 9 to 5, but 24 hours a day seven days a week for years. This service did not come without its toll as he always put others health issues ahead of his own. His longevity was in no small measure affected by his service but that was his choice, his purpose in life, his mission. I hope we as healthcare providers can emulate some of his compassion and dedication. I am not advocating that we do it to the extent that it hastens our own demise, but hopefully we can incorporate some of these values as it would be a living legacy to him. Phil Aaron was my friend, my mentor and, a wonderful physician. I shall always and deeply miss him. Thanks to Sue Stivers for transcript This story was posted on 2016-08-21 11:36:04
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