In early 2020, Dr. Walter Neil Simmons received a call from a colleague in New York City. COVID-19 had not taken hold in Phoenix yet but was becoming a medical Armageddon on the east coast.
“Can you come out here?” his colleague asked desperately.
Dr. Simmons could have offered a list of reasons not to go, but the Valley-based emergency medicine specialist knew where his skill set was most needed. He quickly boarded an empty flight to New York, volunteering at Coney Island Hospital’s emergency department in Brooklyn, now known as South Brooklyn Health.
When the Iraq War veteran began his first shift, he faced a war zone reminiscent of the one in Baghdad, where he served years ago. He saw overflowing emergency rooms, makeshift tents filled with infected men and women, and patients dying alone.
It shook him to his core.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘This is the biggest medical disaster this country will ever experience,’” he says. “It was miserable, and it dredged up all the other stuff from Iraq. It became really difficult.”
He persevered, spending two sleepless weeks in Brooklyn. He prioritized helping patients, which is also what first drew him to emergency medicine.
“I had volunteered in emergency departments prior to going to medical school,” he says. “It’s just [where I] felt the most comfortable. You work with a group of people. You could just sort of set the tone. I just felt that would be my calling.”
Dr. Simmons, the son of an orthodontist, grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. When he was 12 years old, his father retired due to his diminishing eyesight, a complication of diabetes. The family then moved to Scottsdale, where he attended Saguaro High School. He went on to study at Arizona State University. He deeply loved science and majored in zoology, always with the aspiration to follow his father into health care.
“He [my dad] never pushed us into any profession,” he recalls. “My father was one of those guys who would say, ‘You can be a ditch digger; just be the best one you can possibly be.’”
And excel Dr. Simmons did, graduating in 1997 from The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. It was followed by a residency in emergency medicine, where he received hands-on experience while assessing and treating patients. Emergency medicine demands that doctors “learn a little of everything,” he says – ideal for minds that crave challenge and variety. He also received a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University.
As an emergency doctor, he cared for people from all walks of life. “I’ve taken care of mayors, governors, senators and the guys that you pass on the street,” he says. “One thing I never worried about was insurance. It never made a difference to me, and I never had to sell somebody on something. I was always able to put the patient first.”
When he began his third year of residency, his father passed away. Soon after, he decided to apply his medical skills in the Army Reserves. Dr. Simmons thought about how his father, a World War II Army veteran, would appreciate his son following in his footsteps. He once again knew where his contributions would be most beneficial.
“It was more a sense of duty,” he says. “I thought, ‘I need to give back to a country that’s been so kind to me. All the opportunities I’ve had are because I live in a country that allows you those opportunities. That’s a true privilege.”
Before 9/11, his field duties were limited to humanitarian missions. After 9/11, he served in emergency departments in military hospitals throughout the United States, rising to the rank of major. Then, in May 2008, within a week of getting married, he received a phone call alerting him to deploy to Iraq.
He served as an emergency physician in war zones, operating on soldiers injured by sniper fire, explosions, helicopter crashes, landmines and improvised explosive devices. Instead of outwardly expressing his grief, he buried his emotions, only to be haunted by them later.
“I used to read about guys coming back from Vietnam,” he says. “They were never talking about what they did. I thought, ‘Why would you want to share those stories?’ You get back from [war] and realize it’s because you have to relive them as you tell them.”
He was honorably discharged and returned home to civilian medical practice. He became a recognized leader in health care, eventually becoming the medical director for a health plan based in Tempe. Then, in 2020, he received that phone call from his colleague in New York. Working in the warzone-like ER triggered recollections of his traumatic experiences in Iraq.
“I had this one woman my first night,” he recalls. “Her stats just kept dropping. We would try all these things that we do because we couldn’t intubate these [COVID-19] patients. Their lungs were just disaster zones, and if you didn’t let them breathe on their own, their likelihood of survival was very minimal. It was so dramatic, and your mind just gets destroyed.”
Upon returning from New York, his boss told him he could no longer serve in the ER out of fear he would expose others to COVID-19. Once again, his inner drive to help others took precedence. He quit his job and returned to emergency medicine. However, working on the pandemic’s front line took a heavy toll.
“You start thinking to yourself, ‘There’s got to be other avenues that I could take to support my family and not go down this rabbit hole that I was going down at the time,’” he says.
Ultimately, he bought a small business – Rainwater Plumbing in the East Valley. Serving as the company’s CEO, he finds that his previous management experience serves him well in the trade industry.
“I have a skill set managing large groups of people,” he says. “I understand spreadsheets. I’m a pretty good writer. I know how business operates. I realized I should take all that foundational knowledge and put it toward operating a business.”
Diving into an industry so different than medicine initially proved challenging for a career physician, but he learned quickly. He takes great pride in assisting Valley residents and businesses in restoring their properties, fixing real problems and safeguarding what matters most to them. True to his nature, he’s putting others first.
Dr. Simmons has deep respect for the trade industry, and he’s proud to be a part of it. His father’s advice about being the best in your chosen field is always on his mind, and he works to make his team better prepared to serve the company’s ever-growing customer base. His team is committed to arriving promptly, completing the job correctly the first time and delivering top-quality service at a reasonable cost. “They’re coming to your house and fixing your real problems. It takes a real mind to do that.”
Dr. Simmons continues to work in the medical industry, balancing work with raising two boys, ages 14 and 11. Currently, he is a consultant for Adobe Population Health, a company that combines technology and a human touch for a more holistic approach to health and wellness. He recognizes that non-medical factors – such as socioeconomic status, education, housing, employment and access to health care – are essential to maintain well-being. With Adobe, he is addressing these factors to improve patient health.
“They have a staff that is so loyal and dedicated,” he says of Adobe. “It’s what sold me on the company.”
He’s on a mission to make Rainwater Plumbing and Adobe Population Health achieve their goals of world-class performance. And today, he celebrates a better work-life balance and quality time with his sons, something he didn’t do years ago.
“I’m in a good spot in my world right now,” he says. “I’m motivated just to get out and start the day. I know I can accomplish something.”
