William Thomas (Tommy) Redwood, MD

My first recollection of wanting to provide aide to one in need came in a somewhat tragic manner. As a young boy of eight, I had just gotten a BB gun for Christmas. I was roaming the backyard looking for targets when I spotted a bird perched on the limb of an apple tree. I took aim and hit the mark, but only wounded my intended prey. Instead of pride, I felt the need to save the bird from what I had just done. 

I’d like to say I was able to nurse the bird back to health but this is not an episode of the Andy Griffith Show and it didn’t end well for the bird. I felt helpless in my efforts but came away from this experience with an innate sense of wanting to learn how to heal, and if not heal, at least be able to ease the suffering of those unfortunate enough to be hit by life’s seemingly random acts of tragedy.

My first formal pursuit to this end came at the age of 19 when I became an orderly at the hospital in my hometown. Helping patients with basic needs after suffering from a devastating stroke or suffering the consequences of chemotherapy gave me a sense of purpose and gratitude for being in such a position.  It was at this time that I decided my future.

Fast forward to 1987.  After graduating from medical school I did a residency in Family Medicine at University of Alabama Birmingham where I received excellent training from some of the country’s preeminent physicians.  And through a chance encounter met someone who to this day has a profound influence on my life both personally and professionally, my wife and partner of Health and Wellness Resources, Lyn.

After moving to metro-Atlanta in 1990 I found myself wanting to push further in mastering the skills necessary to help those in greatest need.  I completed my second medical residency, this time in Emergency Medicine at Emory University in 1997.

Since then I have joyfully immersed myself in emergency medicine. In addition to being a full-time clinician, I served as medical director for 15 years as well as chief of staff at WellStar Kennestone Hospital. This allowed me the opportunity to have direct input on policy creation, assuring the best care possible to our patients as well as being involved with other physician leaders and hospital administrators in creating a center of excellence in trauma and stroke care.

But life is change, and for the past 9 years I have gone back to the life of a full-time ED doc doing work in several hospitals in Georgia and Alabama. I have had the feeling of coming full circle from the 8 year-old kid with bad aim to someone grateful and humbled for such a life, and then came another of life’s seemingly random acts of tragedy on a global scale with the pandemic.

I have two main takeaways as a frontline emergency physician during this time. The first being that within weeks it was apparent who was at greatest risk of succumbing to the ravages of COVID. Age aside, obesity, an epidemic in the USA, was the leading risk factor for death from COVID. We are an unhealthy country living sedentary lifestyles and consuming unhealthy food in what has euphemistically been dubbed the SAD diet, short for Standard American Diet. Despite the undeniable association of obesity with poor outcomes from COVID, I do not recall ever hearing our public officials sharing, dare I say shouting from the mountain tops, this truth. Instead we were advised to shudder ourselves indoors waiting for the only cure allowable in the form of an experimental drug marketed as a vaccine.

This brings me to my second takeaway point. Our healthcare system is in a state of disrepair. Many of today’s public healthcare policy makers are conflicted with what is best for the patient versus what is best for pharmaceutical behemoths. Many of our boots on the ground hard working clinicians across the country have been too trusting of our healthcare institutions.

Worse yet, we have been forced into compliance with benchmark performance measures put forth by these same conflicted policy makers lest we have reimbursement for our services reduced. The expectation of certain drugs being prescribed for certain conditions drives physician behavior, as does compliance with CDC vaccine recommendations which results in added financial incentives for hospitals and clinicians. I believe we have been sold a false bill of goods with these concepts of healthcare as opposed to the concept of health itself.

I am entering a new chapter in my career. Having received formal training in functional medicine, I have seen how the pursuit of health begins with a partnership between provider and patient based on trust and respect. This paradigm shift can allow us to delve into factors such as prenatal and early childhood exposure, cultural norms, lifestyle choices and societal circumstances beyond our control that can have lasting effects on our health.  I have seen how going upstream looking for root causes to downstream consequences of what we refer to as “disease” can be treated using evidence based dietary strategies, safe affordable supplements and lifestyle modifications to reduce or potentially eliminate the dependence on costly medications with their unavoidable side effects. 

If you are interested in investigating the root causes of your health problems and taking on an active role in reaching the goal of optimum health, please consider contacting us to learn more about our services.