Tallahatchie General Hospital has announced that Dr. Joseph Kordsmeier has joined its medical staff effective July 1. Dr. Kordsmeier will practice internal medicine at the Charleston Clinic, where he will also serve as the clinic’s medical director.
TGH CEO Jim Blackwood made the announcement, saying, “One of the biggest challenges in rural health care today is recruiting good doctors. So many small hospitals have to use physician recruiters, and you usually wind up with some out of state doctor who moves here, stays just long enough to get their student loans paid off by the government, and then leaves. Then the hospital has to start all over with a new doctor, and the patients do, too.”
When the clinic’s last medical director left after 10 years, Blackwood knew that he wanted to find a replacement with ties to the local community. “We wanted to find someone who lives in the area because they actually want to be here.”
So, instead of calling a recruiting service, Blackwood began putting out feelers, looking for doctors finishing their medical residency programs at larger hospitals in the area. “Our question to them was, if you’ve enjoyed living in Grenada or Oxford during your residency, how would you like the chance to stay here?”
As luck would have it, Dr. Kordsmeier was about to finish his residency in internal medicine at Baptist Hospital in Oxford, and was looking to stay.
“Dr. Kordsmeier and his wife had fallen in love with the area during his residency. They had small kids who were in school, they had a church home, they had made friends, and so they really wanted to stay. The fact that his residency was in internal medicine, which is exactly what the Charleston Clinic was looking for, made it that much better.”
Kordsmeier grew up across the river in Arkansas, and earned a biology degree from the University of Arkansas. After working as a chemist for a multinational food company in Fort Smith, Arkansas, he decided to return to medical school, and four years later earned a doctorate in osteopathic medicine. Since 2021, he has been a resident physician at Baptist Hospital in Oxford, specializing in internal medicine. He also serves as an active duty physician in the Arkansas National Guard.
“It just seemed like it checked all the boxes for both of us,” Blackwood said. “We wanted a long-term doctor who our patients will be able to see at the Charleston Clinic for years to come, and Dr. Kordsmeier didn’t want to leave because it would mean uprooting his family.”
As a sort of trial run, Kordsmeier has been working weekend shifts in the Charleston Clinic and the TGH emergency room over the last year. “That gave him a chance to get to know us and our patients, and gave us a chance to see his work ethic and bedside manner. Fortunately, we both liked what we saw.”
Dr. Kordsmeier began seeing patients full time at the Charleston Clinic on July 1.
The public is invited to a reception welcoming him on Thursday, July 11, from 3-4 p.m. at TGH’s Kennedy Wellness Center.
