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FERRELL-DUNCAN CLINIC MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic is to provide superior, personalized healthcare delivered in an ethical and efficient manner by the best available personnel and technology in a humanitariian, compassionate and responsive manner with respect for the dignity of the patient.
OUR VISION
The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic vision is to be recognized as the provider of choice for superior healthcare.
MOTTO
The Art and Science of caring
Dr. Robert Duncan MD Dr. Enoch Ferrell MD
The first office for the Ferrell-Duncan Clinic was in 1946 on the 6th floor of the Medical Arts Building in downtown Springfield.
Dr. Robert Duncan's practice announcement in 1946
Dr. Robert Duncan's practice announcement in 1946
(Note the 3 digit telephone number)
In the 1940’s Springfield Missouri saw the establishment of a medical practice that was to become a lasting legacy of medicine for the city and southwest Missouri. The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic has been an exemplary model of medical practice for quality health care from its beginnings in 1946 to this day. It has been a prominent household healthcare name in many families for as many as 8 generations. The founders provided healthcare for great-grandparents and their great-grandchildren when they started the Clinic and now the great-grandchildren are old enough to be great-grandparents.
The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic began when two highly trained physicians joined forces to establish a general surgery partnership. Dr. Robert D. Duncan MD joined Dr. Thomas Enoch Ferrell MD in his solo surgical practice in 1946. This was the beginning of an iconic practice that exemplifies high quality specialty healthcare in Springfield and the surrounding area.
This two physician surgical partnership grew to a 226 physician multispecialty Ferrell-Duncan Clinic representing most of the medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties of today’s medicine. With more than 29 specialties, it established nearly all of the specialties for CoxHealth Systems.
The Clinic’s physicians shaped the practice of medicine in Springfield through innovation and by promoting and implementing cutting edge technology in the outpatient and hospital settings. Drs Ferrell and Duncan are listed as key figures in the founding of healthcare in Springfield and the surrounding area. They are considered pioneers in the development of high quality multispecialty care in our area. They accomplished this by searching the country for highly specialized physicians to bring in specialties that were not present in Springfield. They were very selective in making their choice of physicians and would only accept those whose character would support the culture and mission of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic. They set a tone of professional excellence through the pursuit of continuous education that has been carried forward by the CoxHealth physicians. Drs Ferrell and Duncan and those physicians who followed, created a legacy through decades of professional mentorship and commitment to serving the health needs of the community. This legacy is also carried forward through philanthropy by the Ferrell-Duncan Foundation established in 1987 whose mission is to further health education and provide for the health needs of the community.
Dr. Duncan's and Dr. Ferrell's legacy has been continued by the many dedicated physicians and staff of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic who are now integrated into the Cox Medical Group physicians. The Cox Medical Group providers are committed to continuing the Ferrell-Duncan Clinic culture, traditions and legacy of providing scientific quality care and compassionate care for the people who entrusted Ferrell-Duncan Clinic and CoxHealth for their healthcare and continue to entrust their care to the CoxHealth providers. Our physicians and staff look upon this commitment not as a burden but as an opportunity and a challenge to carry on this tradition of innovation and excellence of care for the benefit of those we serve for their healthcare.
Ferrell-Duncan Clinic culture and legacy - A touchstone for quality and vision
Ferrell-Duncan Clinic culture and legacy - A touchstone for quality and vision
The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic was built on a solid foundation of standards, principles, vision and the mission developed by our physician founders and those who followed. This foundation successfully guided the Clinic through many challenges. This foundation that is now a part of the foundation of Cox Medical Group will continue to help guide the Cox physicians through future challenges. Our collective commitment to the service of our patients and our vision for the future is based in part on this Ferrell-Duncan Clinic heritage and legacy. This touchstone for quality and vision unites the Cox physicians and staff in our efforts to continue our leadership and apply the art and science of medicine in providing the best possible healthcare for our patients.
In the words of a great historian, Carl Becker, “The past is a kind of screen upon which we project our vision of the future.” We must look back at Ferrell-Duncan Clinic accomplishments, traditions, principles, methods of confronting challenges and the seizing of opportunities. By projecting these elements of the Clinic’s culture on this historical screen, we can choose those that sustained the Clinic following its establishment in 1946 and led to its success. This process can serve as a guide to support Cox Health's strategic vision for the future. The culture of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic’s iconic medical establishment within the Cox Medical Group will help maintain the highest quality healthcare that Cox physicians are known for in Springfield and the surrounding area.
Dr. Ferrell was born on August 2, 1903, in Gerald, MO, to Della Ferrell and Dr. Thomas Enoch Ferrell, Sr. Dr. Ferrell, Sr., practiced medicine in Mountain View, MO.
Dr. Ferrell, Sr., being one of the only doctors in the area of Mountain View, MO, had to deal with any and all medical problems encountered by his patients. When his patients could not come to him, he went to them in a horse and buggy. Thus, Dr. Ferrell, Jr. was brought up in an atmosphere of extraordinary service to the patient. He was taught that you did whatever it took to treat the patient in the best way possible to get them back to health. It is from this upbringing that he coined the phrase, “To properly care for the patient, you have to care about the patient.”
He graduated from Drury College and the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO which just offered the first 2 years of medical school at that time. He finished his M.D. degree at the University of Colorado Medical School in 1929. He interned at St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver and Kansas City General Hospital. Following internship he went to Harvard University for further surgical training.
Dr. Ferrell returned to Springfield and began his surgery practice in 1931. During that time, he was Captain in the U.S. Army at Fort Leonard Wood, and acting Chief of Surgery at O’Reilly Veterans Hospital in Springfield.
Dr Ferrell was dedicated to continuously updating his surgical skills. In 1935 he spent four months in Vienna, Austria, where he worked with a world recognized authority on gastric surgery. While there, Dr. Ferrell observed the German troops marching and going on maneuvers in Austria, and he began to think that he needed to return home to the USA.
He held many prestigious offices in the medical world including serving as the president of the Missouri University Medical Alumni Association Board of Governors, President of the Southwest Surgical Congress, the 12th President of the Missouri State Surgical Society, President of the Hospital Medical Staff of St. John’s Hospital, and President of the Greene County Medical Society. Dr. Ferrell and Dr. Duncan were recognized by the Springfield City Council in 1987 for their lasting contribution to the healthcare field in Springfield and the surrounding community.
His daughter, Linda Ferrell Fowler, in her biography of Dr. Ferrell, expresses the outpouring of gratitude she constantly observed from his patients during personal encounters and through cards and letters. They were grateful for his surgical skills as well as his personal doctor-patient skills.
Dr. Ferrell, Jr.’s vision and his hard work and dedication helped provide the strong foundation that the clinic now enjoys.
Dr. Robert Duncan’s father was an engineer who emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, to America in 1906 and his mother was the daughter of a copper miner who emigrated from Cornwall, England to Michigan to mine copper in the 1840s and soon-after became a 49er in the Gold Rush. In 1911 they had their only child, Robert D. Duncan.
As a child, he sustained a compound fracture of his tibia. At that time, before the days of antibiotics, successfully treating a compound fracture was rare. He was so impressed with his doctor that he was inspired to consider medicine for a profession. He grew up with very caring and benevolent parents which likely influenced his decision to go into a profession that revolved around helping people.
He helped pay for his college by working at a meat packing plant that had no air conditioning, making “head cheese” in hot vats. He joined the Public Health Service that funded his medical school education at the University of California at San Francisco and his general surgery residency. It was necessary to be educated at multiple specialty institutions since general surgeons performed “surgery in general.” He trained at the Marine Hospital in Seattle Washington, Cook County Hospital in Chicago associated with Rush Medical School, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Marine Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, which was associated with the University of Maryland where he taught surgical anatomy.
Following the completion of his surgical training in Baltimore in 1944, he was assigned to the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri to start a surgical service which still exists today. Dr. Thomas E. Ferrell, Jr. had a solo surgical practice in Springfield at that time and Dr. Duncan helped him out with his busy practice. Dr. Ferrell was very impressed with Dr. Duncan’s talents, expertise and patient care, so in 1946 when Dr. Duncan finished his two year obligation to the Public Health Service, Dr. Ferrell asked him to join his practice.
Dr. Duncan continued to add to his knowledge and skills throughout his career. He traveled to many countries to visit medical clinics and hospitals and brought back new procedures and technologies to the Springfield area. For that purpose, he traveled to England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Austria, France, and China in addition to many clinics and hospitals in the US.
Dr. Duncan was quite active in many medical organizations at the local and state levels. He was Chief of Staff at Burge and St Johns, President of Greene County Medical Society, President and founder of the Southwest Missouri Surgical Society, and member of AMA, Missouri State Medical Society, and American College of Surgeons.
Having trained at multi-specialty institutions, Dr. Ferrell and Dr. Duncan recognized that there was a great need for medical and surgical specialties that were not present in Springfield. In order to fulfill that need they sought out physician specialists from all over the country to build their two doctor single specialty practice into a multi-specialty clinic. Through Ferrell-Duncan Clinic’s physicians’ dedication, determination, perseverance, entrepreneurship, innovation and a passion for their profession, the founders’ vision evolved into a Ferrell-Duncan, 226 physician, 29 specialty, iconic, multi-specialty clinic. Like Dr. Ferrell and Dr. Duncan, these physicians have introduced numerous technologies and procedures to Springfield’s medical community.
With the expansion of the Ferrell-Duncan Clinic medical staff, bricks and mortar growth was required. This resulted in having to move to new facilities three times.
When they added the third surgeon, Dr. Don Gose in 1952, they moved from the 6th floor of the Medical Arts Building on the corner of South and Pershing to the third floor of the Professional Building above Cranks Drugstore on the corner of Cherry and Kimbrough. Not only did this move provide room for more physicians but also for X-ray, fluoroscopy and a lab. While there, they added another highly trained and talented surgeon, Dr. James T. Brown, MD., who introduced the specialty of vascular surgery in southwest Missouri.
1958
1958
The 3rd move required a major decision.
By 1958, the Clinic physicians were ready to launch their plans for a multi-specialty clinic. However, there was no more room to expand in the Professional Building. It became obvious that they would need to have a facility that allowed for expansion and that would likely require building a clinic facility. When they looked for property, the ideal location was on Sunshine near the intersection of Glenstone and Sunshine. At that time 90% of Springfield was within the boundary of Kearney and Sunshine to the north and south and Glenstone and Campbell to the east and west. The city was growing mainly to the southeast making the location very desirable, except for one thing. The main concentration of physicians was at the prior locations of the Clinic downtown.
1980
1980
At those locations it was easy access for referrals from colleagues and easy and convenient for their patients to get consultations and pre surgical medical evaluations. In the words of Dr. Gose, “My God, that’s clear out in the hinterlands, nobody’s ever gonna come out there and we’re never gonna get referrals.” However, since the Ferrell-Duncan surgeons already had in mind the idea of expanding the specialties of the Clinic, hiring Internal Medicine doctors would compensate for the loss of nearby medical consultations as a result of moving “out into the hinterlands.”
As the Clinic’s specialty practice continued to grow an addition was added on the South in 1970, doubling the office space. With continued growth a two story addition was added on the East in 1980.
Looking south across the future site of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic at Cox South construction 1985
Looking south across the future site of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic at Cox South construction 1985
In 1985, two new circumstances arose, each favoring the other. Cox Medical Center expanded its hospital system to south Springfield by building Cox South. It was about that time that the 30 physicians at Ferrell-Duncan Clinic had maxed out its space in spite of the 2 major expansions of the Clinic on Sunshine.
Looking north at the first Clinic girders
Looking north at the first Clinic girders
There was property available across the street from the new hospital to build a new Ferrell-Duncan Clinic.
Completed 1986
Completed 1986
Building a new clinic at that location was beneficial for both Ferrell-Duncan Clinic and Cox Medical Center. Being two homegrown medical institutions, Ferrell-Duncan physicians were already gravitating toward Cox as its hospital base, which turned out to be a serendipitous move in the face of the advent of managed care that hit Springfield like a storm within the next decade.
Meyer Center and Bone and Joint building
Meyer Center and Bone and Joint building
In 2005, the Clinic’s 107 physicians filled the Clinic building on Primrose. Therefore the Ferrell-Duncan Building Company built its third building, the 5 story,107,000 square foot Bone and Joint Center. This freed up room in the main Clinic building by moving orthopedics, rheumatology and plastic surgery into the new building where the Ferrell-Duncan PMR department was also located. Ferrell-Duncan Clinic continued to add specialists which quickly refilled the space in the Primrose location. As even more specialties were added, additional locations for Clinic physicians were needed. Cardiology and pulmonology moved to the Wheeler Cardiovascular Center in 2007. Ferrell-Duncan Obstetrics is located in the Turner Building and Ferrell-Duncan Oncology is located in the Hulston Cancer Center. Ferrell-Duncan gastroenterology moved to the Martin Center. Dermatology moved to the Chesterfield building. ENT moved to the CoxHealth Surgery Center. Ferrell-Duncan Clinic also had clinics in Monett and Branson. Even with all of these moves, the main clinic building on Primrose and the Bone and Joint Center stayed full as more physicians were attracted by what the Clinic had to offer. This is a testament to the success of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic which was set in motion with the solid foundation built by the founders and other talented leaders of the Clinic. The Clinic’s success was sustained since its founding by its legacy, traditions, and culture of dedicated commitment to providing state of the art specialty care for Springfield and southwest Missouri.
Ferrell-Duncan Bone and Joint Center 2004
Ferrell-Duncan Bone and Joint Center 2004
Much credit also needs to go to the Burge/Cox hospital organization that, since the establishment of the Clinic in 1946, provided the hospital facilities and technology that enabled our specialists to apply the talents they gained from specialty training from around the country. The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic and the Cox hospital organization were a team that was unsurpassed in providing quality specialty care for Springfield and Southwest Missouri. In the words of Neil Wortley, the Burge/Cox administrator from 1952 through 1985, when asked about the role of Ferrell-Duncan Clinic in Cox Medical Center and the community, he said, “It’s been a real pleasure to work with them. They’ve been helpful in planning and assisting in projects at this institution. They are attracting specialties which has been most helpful to the community. They’ve headed up important committees. We’ve had a very close working relationship with them.”
With the intergration, the Cox/Ferrell-Duncan team is even stronger as a unified, care-coordinated health system.
Ferrell-Duncan Clinic Philanthropic Outreach
Serving the healthcare needs of the community through philanthropy is an integral part of our humanitarian mission and legacy.
The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic Foundation was established in 1987 to further health education and provide for the health needs of the community. Donations to the community since its inception has totaled $1,011,111. It is supported by donations and managed by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and the Ferrell-Duncan Clinic Foundation committee.
You can donate online at https://cfozarks.org/fdc or by mail. You can learn more about the Foundation and how to donate at ferrell-duncanclinicfoundation.com
Many individual Ferrell-Duncan physicians and departments have been generous in their outreach by matching donations of the Ferrell-Duncan Foundation to charities they have recommended to the Foundation committee. These departments include neurology, obstetrics, orthopedics, cardiology, breast care clinic, colorectal surgery, gastroenterology and others.
Some of the many local charity events that have received donations include: Multiple Sclerosis Society MS walk, GYN Cancers Alliance Teal to Heal banquet, Girls Just Want to Run, American Heart Association, Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, ColoRectal Awareness Program, Medical Explorers, Honor Flight of the Ozarks, Isabel’s House, Camp Barnabus, Victim House, Ronald McDonald House, CoxHealth Foundation, Roseann Bentley Playground, The Kitchen Foundation Eyes in Disguise, Lost & Found Grief Center, Shoe Bank Fund, Ozark Chapter of Care to Learn, Shoe Gala, Discovery Center and others.
As one can see, the Ferrell-Duncan Clinic Foundation supports a wide diversity of charities that support health related activities and establishments in our community. It provides a very convenient way for donors, whether they be individuals or other charities, to diversify their donations in support of the health needs of the community. It is an excellent way to honor family members, friends, caregivers, physicians and other medical providers.
The Ferrell-Duncan Clinic
The Legacy - a challenge and an opportunity
Providing unsurpassed specialty care for the community
"Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck; your profession is what you're put here on Earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” Vincent van Gogh
“Health is more important than riches. How fortunate it is for those of us in the medical profession to have the opportunity to help people with their health. It is easy to see how our profession, with proper focus and passion, lends itself to being a spiritual endeavor. There are professions where the boundary between the professional world and spiritual world can be very thin. Medicine is one of those professions.” Douglas Duncan MD
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