Tag: Spring 2015
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Dr. Willem J. Kolff: a great man
George Dunea Chicago, IL In Memoriam Willem J. Kolff: A great man Willem Kolff, often called the father of the artificial kidney,died in January 2009, 3 days before his 98th birthday. During his long life he received numerous honors and accolades for his work. Many people thought he should have received the Nobel Prize, but as he once…
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Gorgas Hospital, Ancon, Panama
W. Paul McKinney Louisville, Kentucky, United States West-facing view of Administration and Clinics Building, Gorgas Hospital, Ancon, former Canal Zone, Panama A man, a plan, a canal: Panama. This well-known palindrome describes the grand vision of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps for constructing, under the flag of France, a sea level canal linking the Atlantic…
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St. Christopher’s Hospice
Thomas Egnew Washington, United States St. Christopher’s Hospice The twentieth century produced an extraordinary evolution in modern medicine. Burgeoning research and the rigorous application of the biomedical model generated remarkable advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.1 Refinements in immunization decreased morbidity and mortality from common infectious diseases and the development of antibiotics…
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Reconstructing the world’s first hospital: The Basiliad
Thomas Heyne Boston, United States St. Basil “A noble thing is philanthropy, and the support of the poor, and the assistance of human weakness…” So rang the emotional words of Bishop Gregory Nazianzen during the funeral oration delivered for his dear friend Basil of Caesarea in 379. Wishing to remind his audience of Basil’s…
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Trafford General Hospital: a conjuring of spatial significance
Sang Ik Song Limerick, Ireland “Health Secretary Bevin with ‘First NHS Patient’ Sylvia Diggory in Trafford’s Park Hospital” On July 5, 1948, the then health secretary Aneurin Bevan officially launched the British National Health Service (NHS) at Trafford’s Park Hospital.1 The picture of Nye Bevan, suited and clean cut by the bedside of Sylvia…
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The Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary
Samantha WilliamsonChicago, Illinois, United States The direct ophthalmoscope debuted in Germany in 1851, ushering in the modern era of ophthalmology. Seven years later, the introduction of the laryngoscope allowed direct visualization of the airway. In 1858, on the heel of these discoveries, Edward Holmes, a Massachusetts native who had trained in Vienna and Berlin, opened…
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Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, 600 years of history
Rosa Monteserín Nadal Eap Sardenya, Barcelona, Spain Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona is the oldest hospital in Spain. It was founded in 1401, after a pest plague and famine caused six medieval hospitals in Barcelona to merge and form the…
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Provident Hospital – the first Black owned and operated medical institution in the United States
Raymond H. CurryVeeLa Sengstacke GonzalesChicago, Illinois, United States Prior to 1891 there was not in this country a single hospital or training school for nurses owned and managed by colored people . . . there are now twelve! . . . and not a single failure in the effort!– Daniel Hale Williams, 19001 Emma Reynolds, a…
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Massachusetts General Hospital, 1992
Randall S. Stafford California, United States A portion of Massachusetts General Hospital seen from across the Charles River with the brick Founders House (1917) in front of the glass Ellison Tower (1992), its top floors designated as the Phillips House. Photograph: Nicholas Janberg, structurae.net, used by permission. To be summoned to pronounce the end…
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The Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore
Preeti Shanbag Mumbai, India The Christian Medical College The Christian Medical College Hospital was founded by Ida Sophia Scudder in 1900, in response to a calling. Daughter of a North American missionary couple working in India, she was born in Tindivanum in south India in 1870. Her earliest experiences of India were of the…