USA > Illinois > McLean County > Biographical history of the members of the McLean County Medical Society of Illinois : one hundredth anniversary edition > Part 8
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Mr. Abraham Brokaw and his wife became interested in the hos- pital in 1901, and contributed considerable financial aid. In 1903 he placed a fund of $30,000.00 at the disposal of three trustees for the benefit of the hospital, and later provided in his will a further endow- ment of $100,000.00 and 320 acres of valuable farm lands. The several bequests made by him to the hospital have aggregated more than $200,000.00. Mr. Brokaw died in 1905.
In January, 1902, the directors of Brokaw Hospital established a training school for nurses, incorporated under the title of the Brokaw Hospital School for Nurses. This school offers to women desirous of becoming professional nurses, a course of practical and theoretical in- struction. The curriculum provides a three-years' course which fully meets the requirements of the State Registration Board of Nurses. The training school is under the efficient management of its superin- tendent, Miss Maude F. Essig. Miss Macie N. Knapp has been the general superintendent of the hospital for the past ten years, and under her capable management and skillful direction, the hospital has shown great progress in realizing its ideal of usefulness and service.
The location comprises eight acres of rolling ground with a beautiful campus, delightful terraces, walks and gardens. There are three build- ings with a capacity of one hundred and one hospital beds. In 1909 a
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separate building was erected for a nurses' home which provides for the needs and recreation of the nurses when not on duty. The average number in the Training School for Nurses is about thirty-five. The staff of physicians and surgeons number twenty-six. The staff holds regular meetings to discuss clinical and scientific matters of interest to its members, and of benefit to the hospital. Brokaw Hospital shares with the hospitals of Bloomington and Normal a public service of in- estimable value, not alone to the citizens of the cities in which they are located, but also to the large groups of individuals of adjoining com- munities.
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THE MENNONITE HOSPITAL Bloomington, Illinois
The Mennonite Hospital Association was incorporated in January, 1919. Its organization was the actual expression of the general religious conviction that ministering to the physically ill, whether rich or poor and regardless of creed, is an important function of the church.
As early as 1893 there was in many Mennonite churches intense interest in this humanitarian endeavor, and under the leadership of Rev. John A. Sprunger they assisted materially in the organization of the Mennonite Deaconess Hospital. The Mennonite groups, however, were scattered and with no organization to hold them together, their activities but not their interest soon languished. Interest in this work grew and resulted in an informal meeting early in the summer of 1918 of representatives of a number of the churches for the discussion of the advisability of the church establishing a Mennonite Hospital. The interest in the proposal was so encouraging that other meetings followed, and the Mennonite Hospital Association with representatives from Mennonite churches was formed. The first officers were: Rev. E. Troyer, Presi- dent; Rev. J. H. King, Secretary; and John Kinsinger, Treasurer. The next January the organization was incorporated. The first board of directors was as follows: Rev. E. Troyer, Rev. J. H. King, Rev. Allen Miller, and Rev. Benjamin Rupp.
The first officers in charge of the hospital were in addition to the above named President and Secretary: Rev. B. Rupp, Superintendent; Miss Florence Burgess, Superintendent of Nurses; and Mrs. Mollie Flint, Surgical Supervisor.
The standing of the local medical profession and the co-operative attitude of prominent physicians was the decisive factor in influencing the Association to decide to establish the proposed hospital in Bloom- ington. The John Harber property at 1308 N. Main Street was purchased and plans were prepared for the construction of a new building on the large lot. It was decided to make a very modest beginning in the large three story house already on the lot. This three story residence was remodeled, and a medical staff with Dr. E. P. Sloan as chief of staff was organized and nurses were secured.
The first patients were admitted for treatment on May 1, 1919. An urgent need for more room was almost at once evident. In January of the next year the Association, instead of building a new building, purchased the building and equipment known as the Kelso Sanitarium at 807 N. Main Street. Again the facilities for service were found to be inadequate, and a movement was inaugurated to replace the frame building with a modern fireproof building of larger proportions. In January, 1932, a new wing of the hospital was opened and the capacity of the hospital was increased to seventy-eight.
An accredited Nurses' Training School has been maintained since 1920. One hundred and nine nurses have been graduated, and of these twenty-eight have occupied executive positions in hospitals since their graduation.
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Since the first year, when only fifty patients were cared for, there have been more than fifteen thousand cases admitted for treatment, and nine thousand operations performed. The medical staff through its organization has contributed largely to the development of the hospital program and now has a membership of forty-three practicing physicians.
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FAIRVIEW SANATORIUM Normal, Illinois
At the beginning of this century the results of bacteriological studies were expressed by better treatment of tuberculosis cases. To get cooperation among the people a great deal of education was necessary.
The trained nurse was a product mainly of the demand for carrying out modern discoveries in medicine. At that time the white plague was everywhere. It took a toll of one hundred and eighteen people in this county one year. This fact was used as an argument for the establish- ment of a sanatorium, for it had become evident that tuberculosis patients could not be successfully treated except in an institution. There was no unanimity as to how this could be brought about. The state had passed no law enabling counties to maintain sanatoria, so to get action on the part of the people fundamental education was necessary.
There existed in this city an Anti-tuberculosis Association. This association purchased a tent which would seat about seventy-five people. Ten of our doctors united in giving lectures to the people in this tent. It was set up in the southeast part of the city for one week, during which doctors lectured every evening on the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.
Mr. Edmund O'Connell was engaged to secure a law which would authorize counties to raise money, purchase grounds, and to build sana- toria. He was posted in legislative matters, and soon the legislature passed a proper bill giving us a law under which we are now working. Then it was necessary to get a vote of the people in favor of a sanato- rium for this county. Urging this on, the names of Doctors J. B. Taylor, W. H. Gardner, F. H. Godfrey, E. Mammen, and T. D. Cantrell appear as very active in trying to influence the votes of the supervisors appear- ing before them at different times. Finally the supervisors voted on the question and defeated it. The doctors continued to carry on the propa- ganda by lectures in school houses, in churches, and otherwise.
The first vote was taken about 1908. The vote of the people authoriz- ing the supervisors to favor the establishment of a sanatorium was taken March 7, 1910. In the resolutions passed by the supervisors occurs this sentence: "There is no question of the need of a tuberculosis sanatorium for the use of the people of this county, and, although we deplore the necessity, it is our duty to see the situation as it really is, and to establish a sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis."
A committee was then appointed as the law provided, and Doctor C. M. Noble, member of the McLean County Medical Society, was made a member of that committee.
The supervisors decided to purchase, in March, 1917, forty acres lying northwest of Normal for fifteen thousand dollars, and proceeded to erect a building properly adapted to the methods of treatment neces- sary for the cure of tuberculosis. This was an institution at which all legal residents of McLean County were entitled to receive treatment free of charge.
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We have now had it in operation about a quarter of a century. It has cost something, but the money spent is a trifle compared to the results attained. The death rate which was 118 per annum has been reduced to 34 for 1933, so that many lives have been saved and many others made happier by treatment.
The Fairview Sanatorium has proven to be the best investment McLean County ever made for the benefit of its people's health.
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BOOK THREE - 1954
This part of the history of the McLean County Medical Society extends over a period of twenty years - 1934 to 1954.
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PREFACE
Bloomington, Illinois - January, 1954
To the McLean County Medical Society
Dear Doctors:
To carry on the work already compiled by former committees, the present committee which includes Dr. Fred W. Brian, Dr. Robert G. Price, and Dr. Howard P. Sloan, presents to you the One Hundredth Anniversary Edition of the History of the McLean County Medical Society. The original history of 1904 and the second volume published in 1934 compose the first two parts in the present edition. To these have been added the historical record of the past twenty years, 1934- 1954, thus forming a continuous hundred years' history of the Society.
A number of doctors, whose biographical sketches appeared in the 1934 edition, are still practicing at the present time. Their biographies have been brought up-to-date and incorporated in the 1954 edition.
In an intricate history of this kind, errors may occur, but we trust that the information we present herewith has been, on the whole, accurately tabulated from the material we have gathered. We wish to thank all the individual members of the Society who have helped in furnishing the data from which this history has been compiled.
Our McLean County doctors of today have traveled a long way in the knowledge of medicine and the art of healing since the pioneer doctor of a hundred years ago. One wonders if the doctors of one hundred years hence will consider the doctors of today as pioneers also in the long history of medical research.
THE COMMITTEE
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
Now one hundred years encompass the McLean County Medical Society. For an entire century the welfare and health of the men, women, and children of this community have been in the hands of the members of this Society, and it is inspiring to read in this new bio- graphical history of the lives of those who dedicated themselves to this honored profession of healing.
Everyone reveres the memory of the pioneer doctor with his devo- tion to duty. Even though the science of medicine was within its cradle- of-being during his lifetime, his courageous character and his spiritual longing to heal was deathless, or should we say, that only death could interrupt his profession ?
Following the pioneer doctor and further along in the advance of medicinal science appears the "doctor of the old school." Ignorance is still to the fore, but great scientific discoveries as exemplified by the names of Pasteur, Liston, and later Osler, are just on the horizon. The doctors of this era were conscious of their incompetence, but their sense of dedication to the task of developing future revelations in the field of medicine was still abiding.
In our own time we remember the doctor of the early 1900's. A list of prominent names in our Society during the first decade of the 1900's bring to our memory Drs. C. E. Chapin, F. C. Vandervort, J. W. Smith, R. A. Noble, A. L. Fox, F. H. Godfrey, O. M. Rhodes, Ernest Mammen, W. H. Gardner, J. K. P. Hawks, E. B. Hart, E. P. Sloan, L. B. Cavins, F. C. McCormick, and A. W. Meyer. All have passed on, leaving an enviable record of their ability and the excellent work they accomplished.
The First World War found many McLean County doctors in its ranks. The following saw active service in the army, navy, and sea duty: Drs. Harry Howell, R. A. Noble, Wilfred Gardner, A. E. Rogers, T. D. Cantrell, J. K. P. Hawks, L. B. Cavins, Frank Sayers, Fred W. Brian, F. C. Vandervort, G. H. Galford, W. W. Gailey, L. L. Irwin, E. A. Behrendt, A. J. Casner, J. L. Yolton, H. W. Elder, W. L. Penni- man, D. D. Raber, A. R. Freeman, Paul Greenleaf, C. E. Shultz, Frank Deneen. Several others remained at home to serve on the Board of Examiners.
Not only on the war front but on the home front were the doctors selflessly on guard against disease and death. The influenza epidemic of this period was most severe and the remaining physicians did a heroic job administering their services to the afflicted.
The chapter on public health is a courageous one. Each innovation meant the long, tiring attempt by the medical profession to educate the public and their representatives in the legislature and in the city government to bring about the reforms that would protect present and future generations. Long quarantine laws for small pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and fumigation methods of those days have all passed by, so that today with immunization procedures routinely given to young children, these diseases plus whooping cough and tetanus, have almost
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been eradicated. The young physician today rarely has the opportunity to see such cases. Poliomyelitis, measles, chicken pox, and mumps now remain as the major problems for the health department.
The concluding paragraph in the 1934 historical sketch in this book was prophetic. The young doctors of 1934 are the older doctors of today. The "larger opportunities, the greater accomplishments, the grander achievements" which those sentences foretell, did indeed come to pass, and it is the younger doctors of that day who helped to bring them to fulfillment. Here in McLean County today are physicians and surgeons who have achieved greatly; a few are world renowned. All have taken full advantage of their inheritance and have kept faith with their pioneer predecessors.
How far they have traveled! From "two courses of lectures of five months each" and a "reading knowledge of the English language" the present day doctor must have four years of college preparation, four years of medical school, besides a year of internship. Thus the medical road of the modern doctor, though in a different fashion, is as rugged, perhaps, as that of the pioneer. Even though he does not die of over- exhaustion in fighting the elements just to reach his patients, look at the number of modern physicians who succumb to heart attacks. The physician's life is a dedicated one, despite its hardships.
And now, indeed, the world of medical science has grown up. In one hundred years we have passed from cough medicine to the iron lung. Poliomyelitis, especially, in the acute stage, is far from being conquered. A wooden respirator made by the employes of the Eureka Williams Company in Bloomington has saved the lives of many through- out the world. "Popular Mechanics" magazine, the National Junior Chamber of Commerce, together with modern television carried on the publicity internationally, giving Bloomington and St. Joseph's Hospital credit for such an emergency instrument. Bloomington also was made one of the downstate Polio centers for treatment and management of the acute cases, and for the monthly out patient clinics under the Division of Services for Crippled Children of the University of Illinois. A cerebral palsy treatment and education unit in conjunction with the Illinois State Normal University has been in action at the St. Joseph's Hospital since 1951. Federal and state funds were received to help build a new wing to the Pediatric Department at St. Joseph's Hospital to be used for the cerebral palsy unit. The Special Education Depart- ment of the Illinois State Normal University with its new building has aided tremendously the problem of education of the handicapped child. Bloomington and McLean County are most fortunate to have such a renowned school in its midst.
The older doctors of yesterday could never imagine the changes in the type of practice the young man sees today. Mastoid, surgery, em- pyema of the lungs, abdominal infections, pneumonia, meningitis, acute upper respiratory infections, and typhoid fever under treatment with the wonder drugs of today are diseases cured and the patient home from the hospital in a matter of seven to ten days or less, with rarely any remaining complications. Sulfa drugs in 1936, penicillin in 1944, aureomycin, terramycin, chloromycetin, dihydrostreptomycin and others too numerous to mention, with many in the making, will no doubt con- tinue to save many lives while at the same time these are being replaced by more valuable ones. Malaria and tuberculosis are also almost com- pletely under control.
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Hormones such as ACTH and cortisone have changed entirely the field of arthritis, rheumatic fever and allergy. What these fields alone have in store for us no one actually would dare to predict. Atomic medicine is in its mere infancy and seems a dream too fantastic to realize now.
Yet psychiatry and its branches bring untold and unpredicted prob- lems still unconquered. In other words, medical science seems to have passed what the human mind can control. The physicians of tomorrow have an enviable yet worrisome world ahead of them which will still require training and the diligent and honest work of each and every one. Specialized medicine, we hope, will still remain conquered. To lose the personal contact and confidence of the patient and doctor re- lationship, one can't help but feel, would be disastrous.
Who knows what wonders the next one hundred years will bring? The young doctors of yesterday, who are the older doctors of today, again spread their mantle over a group of young physicians who are just starting on their life's work. They will carry on the achievements that a century of McLean county doctors have fostered to this day. They will become the physicians and surgeons of tomorrow. The future is unpredictable. From now on, another history, no doubt, should never go past a ten year period.
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ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY AND BANQUET
CENTENNIAL MEETING
Tuesday, October 12, 1954
Mirror Room
Rogers Hotel
Cocktails at 6:30
Dinner at 7:00
Dr. Harry C. Barber Presiding President, McLean County Medical Society
Dr. Howard P. Sloan Introduction of Speaker
Mr. Hale Nelson, Speaker "Public Relations" Vice-President, Illinois Bell Telephone Company
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McLEAN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY ENROLLMENT - 1954
Abbott, O. L.
Irwin, G. E.
Ahroon, C. R.
Jenkins, D. M.
Atkinson, R. L.
Jones, C. C.
Atkinson, W. H.
Kuhn, W. F.
Bailen, J. L.
Livingston, A. E.
Ball, O. H.
Loar, R. R.
Ball, W. G.
Lyman, H. C.
Barber, H. C.
McConnell, B. C.
Baxter, R. E.
McGee, G. R.
Beebe, N. S.
McGinnes, H. P.
Behrendt, E. A.
McIntosh, J. R.
Bond, C. S.
McNeely, G. B.
Boon, L. M.
McNertney, F. D.
Boulton, S. S.
McNutt, J. C.
Brian, F. W.
McNutt, Justin C.
Broad, W. J.
Markowitz, B.
Brown, J. G.
Marquis, V. B.
Bryan, F. M.
Nelson, P. R.
Cantle, H. C.
Nord, S. K.
Causey, G. B.
O'Neil, G. J.
Chesley, G. L.
Parker, R. J.
Chione, A. G.
Peairs, R. P.
Cline, G. M.
Pliura, V. K.
Conklin, C. A.
Prenzler, L. H.
Crowley, F. A.
Price, R. G.
Cumming, T. S.
Raber, D. D.
Deneen, O.
Scott, T. C.
Denny, Helen
Scott, W. E.
Dew, R. R.
Shinall, H. L.
Doud, R. W.
Shultz, G. H.
Elliott, J. N.
Sloan, G. A.
Elvidge, R. E.
Sloan, H. P.
France, G. W.
Smith, T. E.
France, J. T.
Stephenson, G. W.
Frell, A. C.
Sterbini, D. A.
Fricke, R. W.
Stevenson, E. M.
Fruin, L. T.
Theobald, P. G.
Gailey, W. W.
Troyer, D. O.
Hardy, C. W.
Van Ham, J. A.
Hartenbower, G. E.
Walsh, Rita
Helm, J. W.
Watkins, H. R.
Henderson, F. H.
Wellmerling, H. W.
Hersey, M. F.
Williams, E. C.
Hoopes, B. F.
Wuerfele, E. W.
Houk, P. S.
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OFFICERS OF THE McLEAN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY 1954
President D. M. Jenkins, M. D.
Vice-President John France, M. D.
Secretary-Treasurer A. E. Livingston, M. D.
Board of Censors
F. A. Crowley, M. D. 3 years
D. M. Jenkins, M. D. 2 years
E. M. Stevenson, M. D. 1 year
Program Committee
Stanley K. Nord, M. D. Robert Parker, M. D. Preston S. Houk, M. D.
L. T. Fruin, M. D.
Robert R. Dew, M. D. H. McGinnis, M. D., Chairman
Entertainment Committee
Paul G. Theobald, M. D. George E. Irwin, Jr. M. D.
T. C. Scott, M. D. G. B. McNeeley, M. D., Chairman
Delegates to the State Convention Delegate G. E. Hartenbower, M. D. Alternate R. G. Price, M. D.
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IN MEMORIAM
Members of the McLean County Medical Society Who Have Died Since 1934
DR. E. M. ADAMS
DR. C. R. KERR
DR. S. J. BARKETT
DR. G. H. LANGSDALE
DR. E. L. BROWN
DR. F. C. McCORMICK
DR. MARTHA BULL
DR. P. P. McELHINEY
DR. C. O. BURKE DR. WILLIAM McINTOSH
DR. T. D. CANTRELL DR. ERNEST MAMMEN
DR. A. J. CASNER
DR. A. W. MEYER
DR. L. B. CAVINS
DR. E. M. MINNICK
DR. S. T. CAVINS
DR. THOMAS MOATE
DR. FRANK DENEEN
DR. T. R. MULLEN
DR. H. O. DOLLEY
DR. R. A. QUAY
DR. J. H. FENELON
DR. O. M. RHODES
DR. F. E. FIELDING
DR. C. W. RITTER
DR. F. C. FISHER
DR. E. L. RYPINS
DR. J. W. FULWILER
DR. E. E. SARGENT
DR. D. M. GARCIA
DR. W. P. SCOTT
DR. F. P. GOODWIN
DR. C. E. SHULTZ
DR. H. W. GROTE
DR. E. P. SLOAN
DR. E. B. HART
DR. J. W. SMITH
DR. J. K. P. HAWKS
DR. O. M. THOMPSON
DR. H. L. HOWELL
DR. F. L. WAKEFIELD
DR. L. L. IRWIN
DR. L. W. YOLTON
DR. JAMES JENSEN
DR. R. G. YOLTON
DR. L. M. JOHNSON
DR. W. M. YOUNG
DR. ALVIN KELLER
DR. J. H. ZIEGLER
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WOMAN'S AUXILIARY of the
McLEAN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
In 1927 the Illinois State Medical Society decided that a Woman's Auxiliary would be desirable. The organization was completed, and Mrs. G. Henry Mundt, wife of the president of the State Medical Society, was chosen as president of the new organization. Dr. Harold M. Camp, secretary of the State Medical Society, sent a letter to the secretaries of the various county societies asking that the medical societies organize the women in the counties.
Acting upon that suggestion, Dr. Ralph P. Peairs, secretary of the McLean County Medical Society, brought the matter before the local medical society. The medical society approved the plan and authorized Dr. Frank Deneen, the president, and Dr. Peairs, the secretary, to invite the wives of the physicians to a luncheon for the purpose of forming an auxiliary. About twenty-five ladies responded and attended the luncheon which was held at the Y. W. C. A. in September, 1927. Mrs. Mundt, the state president, and Miss Jean McArthur, secretary of the educational committee of the State Medical Society, attended the meeting and were instrumental in organizing the McLean County Med- ical Society Auxiliary. McLean county was the first county in Illinois to form such an auxiliary.
A nominating committee was selected and reported at a later meet- ing. Mrs. Myra S. Peairs was elected as the president of the group. The women were active as delegates to the state and county meetings, sold the health magazine "Hygeia" and had many interesting speakers for their monthly programs. The organization continued until 1940, when it disbanded.
The present auxiliary was formed in May, 1949, with an advisory committee from the McLean County Medical Society present, and ap- proving the action. The group's main project has been the establishment of Student Nurse Loan Funds available to students in St. Joseph's, Mennonite, and Brokaw Hospitals' schools of nursing.
The members of the Auxiliary have continued to sell a health publication "Today's Health"; assist once a month at the immunization clinic at Raymond School; keep informed of current legislation affecting the medical profession through the A. M. A. newsletters; and contribute financially to the Crippled Children's Camp held each summer, and to the State Benevolence Fund. The monthly meetings of the Auxiliary during 1954 will be centered around the National Auxiliary's program theme - "Know Your Community."
The officers of the Auxiliary elected May 3, 1949, at the time of the reorganization were: President, Mrs. Eugene Taylor; vice-president, Mrs. Edwin Rypins; secretary, Mrs. Gordon Shultz; treasurer, Mrs. George France. Present officers of 1954 are: President, Mrs. Stanley Nord; president-elect, Mrs. Harold Shinall; vice-president, Mrs. J. L. Bailen; secretary, Mrs. Preston Houk; treasurer, Mrs. John France.
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MENNONITE HOSPITAL EYE BANK Established by
The Watson Gailey Eye Foundation
The Watson Gailey Eye Foundation was established by Dr. Watson Gailey of the Gailey Eye Clinic in 1948 as a non-profit organization having for its purpose the channeling of funds into the organization for improving the quality of ophthalmology; the education of the blind and partially blind; the education of teachers who wish to take up their profession as instructors for partially-sighted children; the education of deserving medical students, most particularly those who are taking up ophthalmology as their life work; the sponsoring under the direction of the McLean County Health Department of the first free eye clinic for indigent families whose children need glasses and eye care (the clinic being in operation two years); and the establishment of an Eye Bank for the purpose of furnishing human eyes for transplant operations to ophthalmological surgeons throughout our state for the purpose of sight restoration.
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