I recently came into possession of Angelina County Medical
Society meeting minutes dating back 80 years, from 1936 to 1954. These archives
were kept by Dr. W. D. Thames. A walk down medical memory lane with these
records is remarkable. Some facts are simply mundane. For example, dues in 1936
were $10.50 per member - $488 in today’s dollar. That makes our current County
Medical Society dues of $100 seem like a bargain.
More fascinating to me is that even though the practice of
medicine has changed profoundly over the last 80 years, little of the economics
and politics of being a physician has changed. For example, charity care issues
were documented back in 1937. We struggle with that today. The
physician-patient relationship – what today would be assessed by patient
satisfaction scores – was the topic of lectures in 1938.
The broad legislative issues on the table today are hardly
different than those in 1938 when a Legislative Committee was appointed. Scope
of practice issues with optometrists and chiropractors were discussed way back in
1941. In 1953, Dr. Arnett “encouraged members of our society to join the
American Association of Physicians and surgeons, which is a political
organization of doctors. Its purpose is to stop socialized medicine.” (What
would they say now?)
Some issues from the past seem frankly quaint today. In
1952, Dr. Arnett was to appoint a committee to investigate a physician who took
out an ad in the Lufkin Daily News, apparently quite the no-no at the time. The
next month’s minutes document how that physician “apologized and said it
wouldn’t happen again”. The Society even had a secret ballot to vote whether he
was guilty or not guilty of advertising. He was acquitted on a 9 to 2 vote.
Admirably, the Angelina County Medical Society minutes also
contain notable evidence of community involvement and civic leadership. In
January, 1940, the Society was holding joint meetings with city and county
officials and the Chamber of Commerce directors to discuss a federal aid program
for the building of a county hospital. It was these very discussions that spurred
local industry leaders to join together to build a new hospital. The legend we pass
down is that in 1941, Arthur Temple, Sr., President of Southern Pine Lumber
Company, W.C. Trout, President of Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company, E.L.
Kurth, President of Southland Paper Mills, and Col. Cal C. Chambers, President
of Texas Foundries, along with ten other businesses and industries, joined
resources, refused federal funds, and raised one million dollars to build the
non-profit Memorial Hospital (now CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial). But we have
forgotten the groundwork was laid the previous year by the healthcare
community, the city and county leaders, and the Chamber of Commerce, all
working together. Such cooperation and leadership can still take place today.
Another more poignant event occurred in February, 1954. Then
President Dr. Gail Medford “read a letter from the Negro Chamber of Commerce
wanting help from the Angelina County Medical Society in their plan to improve
sanitary conditions in the colored community. Drs. Taylor and Spivey, City and
County health officers, were appointed to work with the colored organization.” We
cringe now, thinking about Jim Crow segregation and disparities in neighborhood
services and conditions. But do we recognize similar disparities in healthcare
today? Are we addressing the needs of the indigent, uninsured and underserved
populations among us? Is the medical community as approachable today as it apparently
was in the segregated 1950s?
Technology has revolutionized healthcare over the last
eighty years. But technology cannot replace the heart. Let us not forget our
calling, our oath, and our love for the patient. The practice of medicine should
never be just a job. It is a profession.
I invite everyone to the Salute to Healthcare banquet on
Thursday, November 10, 2016. Help us recognize and honor those in our community
who set the standard in healthcare and who are true to the calling – the
profession – of medicine. Call the Chamber at 634-6644 for ticket information.
