USA > Illinois > Cook County > Growth of Cook County; a history of the large lake-shore county that includes Chicago, Vol. I > Part 15
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Dr. George C. Blaha
The present medical director of County hospital is Dr. George C. Blaha, appointed July 1, 1953 following the retire- ment of Dr. Ole C. Nelson.
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Dr. Blaha, a bachelor who devotes practically all of his waking hours to his job, was born in Chicago on October 31, 1912. After graduation from the University of Notre Dame in 1934 where he had taken a pre-medical course, majoring in chemistry, young Blaha attended the University of Illinois Medical school, graduating in 1938. (While a medical stu- dent he helped finance himself by working for two summers as a laborer in the Cook county forest preserves.)
On July 1, 1939 the young doctor began his internship at County hospital and has remained with the institution continu- ously. Specializing in internal medicine, he became a resident physician on July 2, 1940, serving as such until July 2, 1942 when appointed executive resident physician.
During the succeeding eleven years, while associated closely with both Dr. Nelson and Dr. Karl A. Meyer, the latter as medical superintendent of all Cook county institutions, Dr. Blaha became so steeped in proper hospital medical procedure that his appointment as medical director was a "natural" when that position became vacant.
Dr. Blaha is of large physical stature, as contrasted with Dr. Nelson's small makeup, but aside from that, their traits of friendliness and efficiency are much the same.
Dr. Karl A. Meyer
As the world enters the age for conquering outer space, it seems fitting to record here that one man in Cook county, Karl A. Meyer, has rocketed and remained aloft in the firma- ment of medicine longer than any other Illinois man in this 20th century.
Famed as a surgeon, teacher, hospital administrator, and benefactor of human kind in many other ways, Dr. Meyer has been associated with official Cook county medical affairs con- tinuously since the county board appointed him as medical superintendent of County hospital on April 6, 1914. Presently
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The Dr. Karl A. Meyer Hall, dormitory for interns and resident doctors, with the Cook County School of Nursing residence in background at left.
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Great doctors connected with County hospital. The world-famous Dr. Karl A. Meyer, upper left, now medical superintendent of all Cook county institu- tions, and the late Dr. Frederick Tice, heart and chest specialist. Lower left, Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman, director of Hektoen Institute for Medical Research, and the late Dr. Ole C. Nelson, long-time medical director at County hospital. (See text for accounts of their accomplishments.)
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he is medical superintendent of all Cook county institutions.
"Without Karl Meyer, Cook county could not have attained and sustained the outstanding position it has enjoyed in the treatment accorded its destitute sick," Daniel Ryan, president of the county board, said recently.
Dr. Meyer was born Sept. 28, 1886 at Gilman, Ill., son of German immigrants. His father was a combination furniture dealer and undertaker. At the age of eight, young Karl was permitted by his father to accompany the local doctors in their horse-drawn buggies on country visits.
Upon completion of his elementary and high school train- ing in the public schools of Gilman, the youth attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine (at Chicago) where he was graduated in 1908 at the head of his class.
Interned At County Hospital
Between 1908 and 1910 he interned at County hospital, then went to Wichita, Kansas to begin his medical practice. He remained there two years, during which time he was closely associated with Dr. D. W. Baskam, a noted surgeon of the great southwest.
From Kansas Dr. Meyer went to LeGrand, Oregon, where, for slightly more than a year, he was superintendent and chief surgeon at the Hot Lake Sanatorium.
Returning to Chicago in 1913, Dr. Meyer practiced medi- cine at the old North Chicago hospital as a resident surgeon until the aforementioned date (April 6, 1914) when he was appointed medical superintendent of County hospital after having scored highest in a civil service examination.
Besides being superintendent, Dr. Meyer on Feb. 2, 1920 was appointed as a medical staff surgeon at County hospital, which classification he has retained to the present day.
On Dec. 1, 1939, Dr. Meyer was elevated to the newly- created post of medical superintendent of all Cook county institutions. As such he maintains medical supervision over
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County hospital, Oak Forest hospital, Arthur J. Audy Home for Children (formerly known as the juvenile detention home), and county jail.
In addition to being on the surgical staff at County hospital, Dr. Meyer is the chief surgeon at Columbus hospital, and at one time or another has served on the surgical staffs of the following Chicago hospitals:
Henrotin, Wesley Memorial, St. Luke's, Grant, Illinois Masonic, the old University Hospital of Illinois, and the afore- mentioned old North Chicago hospital.
Long A Professor Of Surgery
For years Dr. Meyer was on the teaching staff of his alma mater, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, serving as professor of surgery, and for a quarter of a century-from 1926 to 1951-was a professor of surgery at the Northwestern University Medical School. (Since 1951 he has had emeritus rating at Northwestern.)
In his busy life, Dr. Meyer has been active in many civic and medical affairs. He was elected as a member of the board of trustees of the University of Illinois in 1932, serving until 1950. He was president of the board one year.
On Jan. 20, 1950 Governor Adlai E. Stevenson appointed Dr. Meyer to the Medical Center Commission where he still serves as vice-president. This seven-member commission, which serves without pay, has been instrumental in creating and maintaining what generally is considered the world's greatest medical center on Chicago's West Side, an area that includes County hospital. Within this center public and private hos- pitals, research institutions, medical colleges, and nurses' train- ing schools are in close proximity to one another.
Since January of 1955 Dr. Meyer has served as president of the Chicago Foundlings Home, oldest of its kind in the middle west, having been founded in 1869. It is an institution that cares for abandoned children and unwed mothers and
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their babies until such time as they can be fitted properly into normal society. In 1957 Dr. Meyer lead a campaign which raised funds for a new home for the institution. The new home, located at 1720 W. Polk st., was completed in 1959 and dedi- cated Jan. 31, 1960. The old home had been at 15 S. Wood st.
Dr. Meyer was one of the founders and is president of the Cook County Graduate School of Medicine, now at 707 S. Wood st. This school, which offers refresher courses to some 2,000 doctors annually, was founded in 1932 by 18 doctors on the staff of County hospital. They donated $100 each and rented an old building at Honore and Congress streets to house the project. The new, three-story building which now houses the school cost $500,000 and was dedicated in June of 1952 with Dr. Meyer and County Commissioner Wm. N. Erickson presiding. Erickson at that time was president of the county board.
This graduate school is a private institution not supported by taxation nor by any university. With a staff of 125 doctors, including Meyer, himself, it is said to carry the largest load of post graduates in the world. All doctors need such refresher courses to learn the latest in medical developments, Dr. Meyer repeatedly has pointed out.
Much of Dr. Meyer's time and interest is devoted to the affairs of the afore-mentioned Hektoen Institute For Medical Research of the Cook County Hospital. He is chairman of its board of trustees.
How he can find time for the private practice of medicine is almost a mystery, but Dr. Meyer maintains an office at 30 N. Michigan ave. His hours there, however, are limited to three short afternoons per week.
In 1957 Dr. Meyer was elected president of the Chicago Medical Society, an honor that gave a somewhat ironical twist to a situation that arose just prior to June 11, 1938. That was the date that the American Medical Association, with which
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the Chicago Medical Society is associated, dropped County hos- pital from its accredited list for intern training because Dr. Meyer, as its medical superintendent, refused to exclude as interns the graduates of the Chicago Medical School which did not at that time have a Class A rating with the A. M. A. (The Chicago Medical School, which later became associated with the Mt. Sinai hospital, has enjoyed Class A rating by the A. M. A. since 1948.)
Dr. Meyer vigorously insisted that the county should con- tinue to accept the Chicago Medical School graduates as in- terns, not only because of an intern shortage, but he also pointed out that the school even then was fully accredited by the state of Illinois, and that its graduates, after internship, could legally practice within the state.
The dispute eventually was resolved in compromise fashion. The school's graduates who then were interning at County hospital were permitted to finish their internship with full credit, and the county ceased accepting more such graduates until the school acquired the rating demanded by the A. M. A. With that, County hospital was returned to the accredited list on Dec. 10, 1939. Dr. Meyer, meanwhile, had been ele- vated to his new post of medical superintendent of all county institutions, and the A. M. A. soon forgot that it ever had argued with the distinguished man.
Always A Public Figure
Dr. Meyer never has been out of the limelight from the time he was graduated at the head of his class in medical college. (Even in dozens of written medical examinations he has taken, down to the present time, he always has rated first, according to civil service records.)
Altho aggressive in fighting for what he believes right, Dr. Meyer never has been self-seeking. That one reads so much about him is because of his accomplishments. People and jobs seek him out, and publicity follows automatically.
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One occasion on which Dr. Meyer made front page news came in 1933 when, by auto and plane, he sped to the bed- side and personally attended Chicago's mortally wounded mayor, Anton J. Cermak, in Miami, Florida. Cermak, who had been president of the Cook county board of commissioners from 1922 until his election as mayor in 1932, had been struck down by an assassin's bullet meant for President Frank- lin D. Roosevelt.
Wide publicity again came to Dr. Meyer in December of that same year (1933) when he performed what many men in medical circles said was the first successful operation of its kind. In an operating room at County hospital he removed in its entirety the stomach of a patient. It was attributed a success because the patient, a man, lived in comparatively good health for seven additional years, his body depending upon the small intestine to do the work of the missing stomach. The man would have lived longer, doctors said, had he not taken a fatal drink of antiseptic while intoxicated.
Because of his recognized standing, his ability to express himself well upon any occasion, and his ready command of pertinent facts, Dr. Meyer has enjoyed deep influence in all causes he has championed.
Members of the Cook county board know he is giving it to them straight when he says additional funds are needed for hospital improvements; state legislators follow his recom- mendations when he urges improvements in state mental and tuberculosis institutions; private groups respond to his appeals in behalf of private charities; medical students and fellow doc- tors hang onto his every word when he talks of medical practices. The policies at the University of Illinois, North- western University, and other great institutes of learning not only reflect but actually are a corporate part of Dr. Karl A. Meyer.
Forces that would oppose any of Dr. Meyer's ideas have
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learned that if they are to meet with any degree of success they must indulge themselves in behind-the-scenes maneuvers. They know that this man, who is slightly on the smallish side in physical stature, will best them convincingly in open, sense- making debate.
Dr. Meyer has traveled widely, especially in Europe. Always alert to medical practices, he has brought home and instituted at County hospital any improvements found elsewhere in either medical techniques or hospital facilities.
A determined foe of smoking or drinking, Dr. Meyer has maintained rigid control over such at the institutions he super- intends. There is an oft-quoted saying at County hospital when a patient or an on-duty hospital employe sneaks a forbidden smoke that he had "better not let Dr. Meyer find out about this." .
Hands That Save Lives
The rich, when they can obtain his services, pay well for Dr. Meyer's ministrations. Many thousands of others - the destitute "nobodies" who likewise are human beings-owe prolongation of their lives to this man's expert knowledge and deft hands. More than likely many of this latter group did not even know that of the half-dozen, white-uniformed, white- masked figures hovering over them in the operating room it was Dr. Meyer who performed the operation that saved their lives.
Dr. Meyer's fame as a surgeon came early in his career, and the succeeding years enhanced it. On Jan. 22, 1927 Torrey Stearns wrote in the Chicago Daily News that Dr. Meyer "might have been an artist, a great pianist, or a distinguished dramatic actor .... had he so willed."
Stearns dwelt at length upon the subject of Dr. Meyer's hands, saying they "show a depth of expression and a sensitive delicateness which is called rare." He said also:
"Dr. Meyer's hands, which perform hundreds of major oper-
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ations annually, were photographed and shown to a prominent nonprofessional student of palmistry who, without knowing her subject, marveled at the even balance and power of expres- sion they show him to have." Stearns quoted the palmist as saying:
"The man is very practical and logical, well balanced, even tempered and intellectual. He has great energy, but remarkable self-control. His hand is of the square or useful type, which shows him to be possessed of extreme perseverance, which may even become stubbornness . . . . he has vision and ability to carry out his ideas. His hands must almost talk when he works, so sensitive and expressive are they. He must have a light but firm touch and his nerves surely are wonderfully controlled."
There are many facets to Dr. Meyer's full life. One is re- flected by his taking into his own home Sven Swenson, a talented painter of note. That was in November of 1930 after Swenson had fainted on a Chicago street and had been taken to County hospital for recovery.
Feeling compassion for the 70-year-old, homeless man, Dr. Meyer made him a virtual member of the Meyer household, even constructing a studio for him. Swenson lived with the Meyer family three years, paying for his keep by giving paint- ing lessons to the three Meyer children. Dr. Meyer's wife, Fay, already was an accomplished painter, herself. (Mrs. Meyer died in 1956.)
Down On The Farm
As a diverting hobby and as a place for leisurely escape from his high-tension life, Dr. Meyer maintains four farms, totaling 1,365 acres, near his boyhood home of Gilman. One is a 330-acre farm, four miles east of the town. It is called Kamlake, the first three letters of the name being the Meyer initials. There, in addition to maintaining a herd of 125 Hol- stein milk cows and other pedigreed livestock, Dr. Meyer has established a bird and fish sanctuary. Dr. Meyer bought his
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farm lands early in the depression years of the 1930s.
The Meyer home is at 215 Prospect ave., Highland Park, in Lake county, just north of Cook county. But when he feels the need for a really relaxing week-end, Dr. Meyer slips away to his "good earth" holdings down in Iroquois county, 86 miles south of Chicago.
Because Karl A. Meyer is known thruout the state for his abilities as a surgeon, hospital administrator, medical teacher, member of the board of trustees of the University of Illinois, medical center commission director, proponent of better state mental and tuberculosis institutions, friend of the farmer, and for his capacity to get things done, leaders of the Democratic party are known to have asked him in 1944 and subsequent election years if he would be their candidate for governor of the state of Illinois.
In turning them down, Dr. Meyer's stock answer has con- tinued to be: "Thank you kindly, but my profession is that of a doctor of medicine."
Other Noted Doctors
In addition to previously-mentioned doctors of note who interned or served as staff members (oftentimes both) at Cook County hospital, and who also became outstanding teachers in medical schools, there are hundreds of others in the same category who are deserving of far more than passing notice. In this brief treatise, however, we can mention but a few more, and then principally by name only. These would include:
William T. Belfield, "father of urology;" Peter Bassoe, expert in neurology; Arthur Curtis, University of Wisconsin football star and for years head of the department of gyne- cology at Northwestern University Medical School; Charles Davison, professor of surgery at the University of Illinois Col- lege of Medicine.
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Arthur R. Edwards, once dean of Northwestern University School of Medicine; E. F. Ingalls, a leader in the field of eye, ear, nose and throat diseases and inventor of apparatus used in their treatment; Dallas B. Phemister, for 25 years head of the department of surgery at the University of Chicago's School of Medicine.
Vernon David, professor of surgery at Rush Medical College (Rush was absorbed by the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1941); Frederick G. Harris, for years head of the department of dermatology at Northwestern University School of Medicine; Sumney Roch, professor of surgery at Northwestern; Dean D. Lewis, left the staff at County to be- come associated with Johns Hopkins University.
The late Raymond W. McNealy, famed surgeon who was on the staff at County hospital from the time of his internship there in 1910 until his death on July 29, 1958. He also was the chief surgeon for years and the first superintendent at Wes- ley Memorial hospital, which institution he helped design.
The list of celebrated doctors who interned and practiced at County hospital continues with Michael Mason, professor of surgery at Northwestern; and Edwin M. Miller, famous children's disease specialist who taught at Rush Medical Col- lege and later was on the staff at Presbyterian hospital.
Roswell Park, following County hospital internship in 1876, established himself at Buffalo, N. Y. and operated on President Mckinley when the latter was mortally wounded by an assas- sin's bullet on Sept. 6, 1901. Park later became head of the surgery department at the University of Buffalo.
Harry M. Richter, professor of surgery at Northwestern; A. K. Steele, professor of surgery at the University of Illinois Medical college; Weller Van Hook, famous surgery teacher at Northwestern; Roger T. Vaughan, night superintendent at County hospital for 30 years.
Other famous doctors, both in the past and present, who
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interned at County hospital and served on its staff include William Fox, Lewis L. McArthur, Byron C. Meacher, Albert E. Halstead, Joseph B. DeLee, James B. Herrick, George H. Weaver, Noble M. Jones, Arthur Dunn, Bertram W. Sippy, Marshall Davison, Frederick A. Besley, William R. Cubbins, Harry Culver, Daniel N. Eisendrath, M. L. Harris, Frank Pfifer, Charles J. Rowan, Kellog Speed, Theodore Tieken, and Peter A. Rosi.
Before leaving County hospital, one should consider again the part the members of the board of commissioners of Cook county play in its operation. The answer is simple. They run the institution. The law places the responsibility for its suc- cessful operation squarely on their shoulders.
Of course they appoint such men as Dr. Karl A. Meyer, Dr. George C. Blaha, and Warden Fred A. Hertwig, out- standing experts in their fields, to manage the institution and give the board members sound advice in charting its future. But the commissioners, themselves, constantly are in touch with hospital affairs. They know as they go along what needs to be done here and there to maintain and improve the hospital:
Chain Of Responsibility
There is a direct chain of responsibility for hospital super- vision within the board, itself. Ultimate decisions must be made by the board as a whole, with the president, because of his position, having an important voice in all matters. (At this writing, the board's president is Daniel Ryan. Preceding him was William N. Erickson, and before that, Clayton F. Smith, the latter two still serving as board members.)
Hospital matters sometimes are brought directly to the board first, then referred to its public service committee, of which all 15 commissioners are members. Commissioner Frank Bobrytzke currently is the committee's chairman. A sub-com- mittee under the public service committee is the smaller County hospital committee, of which the late Commissioner Arthur
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X. Elrod most recently was chairman. Preceding Elrod as chairman was Commissioner John J. Touhy.
When hospital matters are presented at board level, they go down thru the committees for recommendations, then back to the board again for final action. At other times they origi- nate in the committees themselves and work their way up to the board.
Altho all commissioners are free at all times to visit County hospital for first-hand information-and most of them do visit it with great frequency-Commissioners Touhy and Elrod as hospital committee chairmen, spent many hours at the institu- tion each week, conferring with department heads and inspect- ing hospital facilities.
Persons who were conversant with county board matters back during the depression years of the 1930s when money was scarce and the emphasis was on retrenchment, recall how Commissioner Bobrytzke saved the county taxpayers a large sum of money.
At that time certain elements which since have passed from the picture were insisting that an older wing of one of the buildings at County hospital was "about to fall down" and would have to be replaced "immediately."
As chairman of the" hospital committee at the time, and acquainted with construction work because, among other ac- complishments, he was a builder, Bobrytzke climbed many feet into the air on an extension ladder one gusty day for a closer inspection. The building, he found, was sound, except that a roof gutter was loose and rattling. He had the gutter repaired at little cost and then admonished: "Don't try to fool the commissioners again."
Another extremely important board committee that has directly to do with County hospital as well as with all other county functions is the committee on finance, of which Com- missioner John J. Duffy is chairman. Thoroly conversant with
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hospital affairs, even down to surprisingly minute details, Duffy sees to it that the county gets the most out of its limited spend- ing monies.
Duffy often has been heard to say:
"We board members know as well or probably better than others what we need most in the way of improvements at our county charitable institutions, including salary adjustments for employes, but we always are faced with the problem of trying to raise sufficient revenues to meet added responsibilities that the state legislature, in particular, continues to place upon the county."
President Ryan, who in 1960 had been on the county board over 33 years, repeatedly has emphasized that public support always is necessary if major hospital improvements are to be made.
"It may come as a surprise to many that even during a period of prosperity, Cook county has had thrust upon it more and more destitutes and near-destitutes who require hos- pital care," Ryan has stated. "It is not enough that we elected officials merely call attention to a pressing situation. We must have public support when major improvements are to be made at our institutions. For years the over-crowding at County hospital has forced us to bed some patients in the corridors.
"We point with justifiable pride to the accomplishments at our great County hospital, but at the same time we always welcome the constructive criticisms that are essential if we are to get the public behind us when it comes to providing more money."
All Chicago newspapers, at one time or another, have helped the county in securing additional improvement funds by conducting their own investigations and publishing the facts, Ryan declared.
The "Misery Harbor" Series
One occasion, Ryan remembered, was in February and March
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of 1936 when the Chicago Times (now Sun-Times) printed its "Misery Harbor" series of articles in which Frank Smith, a reporter, wrote vividly of conditions at County hospital.1
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