Dr Jack Hodge died peacefully at the age of 85 in the final week of March. Having retired more than a decade ago, he is not well-known to many of the present emergency medicine community, but those who knew him appreciate that his passing marks the end of an era in Perth.
Together with the other two "H"s (Tom Hamilton of SCGH and Ron Hirsch of RPH) who predeceased him, Jack was of significant importance in establishing the emergency medicine specialty as we know it today. As Director of Emergency Medicine at Fremantle Hospital for 25 years (1986–2010), he was the right person in the right place at the right time to nurture a nascent specialty, now fully developed and an indispensable component of healthcare.
Jack's achievements included establishing what is now the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia, the beginnings of research and academia that led to two of the first doctorates in emergency medicine, and a high examination success rate that attracted many trainees from all over to come out west, including two who were subsequently appointed ACEM Censor-in-Chief. The strong support of his department was essential to the opening of the State Hyperbaric Medicine Unit at Fremantle Hospital.
Because of his kindness, his interest in teaching, and his generosity in giving time and energy to help progress the careers of those he led, Jack had a personal footprint across Australia and New Zealand amongst many present-day emergency physicians. He was a modest man; we nonetheless acknowledge and celebrate Dr Jack Hodge for playing a large part in setting the scene for emergency medicine in Australasia, now and into the future.
—Dr Ashok Arasu