A Heart to Serve: The Passion to Bring Health, Hope, and Healing

by Bill Frist

Book Overview

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist shares his unique experience as a heart transplant surgeon and U.S. senator inspiring people to make a difference wherever they are and whatever position they are in by helping others, risking failure, challenging the status quo, and above all, having a heart to serve. One of the brightest and most forward-thinking senators, Frist tackles controversial issues to offer feasible solutions. His simple philosophy...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599950162
• ISBN13: 9781599950167
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Center Street
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Glad I read through all the book

I really liked the layout of the book, how the family was introduced, Sudan, then Frist, then heart transplant history (some medical policy history), then the US Senate. What an exciting read the second half (and the first was good!). What a genuinely wonderful human being and what incredible accomplishments. I liked the part where he wasn't certain what party he belonged to and the one guy spelled it out -- Republicans believe in the individual to solve problems; Democrats believe in government solutions. Health issues: two failed pushes for medical Tort reform (blocked by Democrats); garnering bi-partisan support, the statesmanlike way, for Medicare part D -- prescription drug coverage for seniors. He and Petraeus, both PhD's out of the WWS of public policy at Princeton, was interesting.

Bill Frist: Citizen Legislator, Humanitarian Extraordinaire

"Good people beget good people." By this axiom lived Dr. Thomas Frist, a wise country doctor from Mississippi who developed a thriving practice in Tennessee, began and built Hospital Corporation of America, and well modeled a servant's heart to his family. Indeed, not only did he live by it. He lived it, literally, as a father by begetting a great leader servant in his own right, Dr. Bill Frist, author of the highly inspiring autobiography, Heart To Serve. Heart To Serve begins in a remote Sudanese village, where on a mission with Samaritan's Purse Dr. Bill personally renders medical care to victims of civil violence in that troubled, dangerous place. It is like many such missions he has undertaken to locales ranging from Africa to Anacosta, including several while also serving as Majority Leader of the United States Senate. Medicine. Legislation. Humanitarianism. The setting sets well the stage for a life story of genuine service on several fronts. It is the story of a true servant leader. Bill Frist seems always to have been so. He recounts his early years growing up and preparing for service. Even at Princeton, where he was two years ahead of me as an undergraduate, he exuded an earnest and confident dedication to a higher calling. Even then he was clearly, if quietly, heading to great things. After an exemplary stint at Harvard Medical School, and then at top-notch hospitals in Boston and then Stanford, he returned to Nashville to establish a cardio-pulmonary transplant program at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Performing 150 heart transplants by an early age, not only did he excel as a practitioner. He created enormous new societal value as a medical leader. Such would be significant lifetime achievement enough in anyone's book. But Frist went further, extending his sights to an even bigger platform on the national stage. He ran for the U.S. Senate as an underdog against incumbent Jim Sasser, won, and further ascends (after Trent Lott's unfortunate comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday) to be elected Majority Leader. Frist presided over the Senate at the time when the World's Greatest Deliberative Body addressed athe last major (and controversial) national health care initiative: the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug coverage initiative of the Bush Administration. In the wake of the legislative wreckage of Obamacare just passed by the Senate Democrats, which even along totally partisan lines could only win passage after corrupt special deals for Democratic Senators Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu, it is interesting to remember how this last major health care initiative was led under Republican Bill Frist's leadership. When the Senate then was divided even more tightly along party lines at 51 to 49, Frist managed a genuine bi-partisan passage of 76 to 21. The Terry Schiavo matter also occurred during Frist's tenure. It is refreshing to understand better how this physician senator approached the matter. Always a doctor loyal to his

Honest and open look into what people should aspire to be...

I thoroughly enjoyed this open and honest look into the life of Bill Frist. The path he took to medicine, a self-determined short career in politics and his humanitarian efforts to help those in need can make any reader of this book appreciate what good-hearted people can do to make a difference in the world that we live. As a doctor myself, Dr. Frist relates to what we as physicians should aspire to be to our patients - caring and looking out for their best interests. When Dr. Frist entered politics, he openly discusses term limits and how he thought staying in Washinton too long is not for the good of the country - new, fresh faces are always needed as the country is continuously evolving. His humaniatarian efforts show the difference that people who have achieved "status" can make for those who need help when they could not afford or were not able to get it. A pleasure to read and refreshing look into the life of a family man who truly cares about those around him.

inspiring!

this is a book for every young person to read! an inspiration for us all to serve others....