Hospital & Healthcare Administration History Blog

ORAL HISTORY: New Greenawalt and Ross interviews

kmgarber — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:41:36 +0000

(Chicago, IL, December 3, 2012) The Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History announces two new publications in the Hospital Administration Oral History series:

Leo F. Greenawalt, in First Person: An Oral History
Austin Ross, in First Person: An Oral History

Leo Greenawalt retired in 2011 after spending 30 years at the helm of the Washington State Hospital Association. In his oral history, Mr. Greenawalt discusses the six goals of the association and how the board arrived at them. He reviews the health care delivery system in Washington and provides insight into the ways that the state hospital association assists hospitals in their mission. He also shares memories of his early experiences as the executive director of an Indian Health Service hospital in Oklahoma. Mr. Greenawalt was active in the Committee for Affordable Health Care, a broad-based coalition in Washington State that was involved in helping get laws passed to increase health insurance coverage.

Austin Ross went to work for the Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle as an administrative resident in 1955, and stayed for over three decades in various leadership positions. In his oral history, Mr. Ross reminisces about the physicians who led the Mason Clinic and how the Clinic was organized. He describes the development of the Consortium, which was an attempt to develop linkages between hospitals in urban and rural parts of Washington State. A prolific author, Mr. Ross has also served as a professor at the University of Washington.

The full text of these new oral histories is available at no charge on the Center website at http://www.aha.org/chhah. Other recent oral history interviews that can be found on the website include that of Paul M. Ellwood, Jr., M.D., John R. Griffith, Richard J. Davidson, Gail L. Warden, Ruth Rothstein, Howard J. Berman, and Elliott C. Roberts, Sr.

The Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History was established by the American Hospital Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives and is coordinated by the AHA Resource Center in collaboration with the Health Research & Educational Trust. For more information about the Center and its programs, visit the website or contact Sara Beazley, director, at (312) 422-2050.

Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2003, rc@aha.org

Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, in First Person: An Oral History

The AHA Resource Center — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:04:04 +0000

The Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History announces a new publication in the Hospital Administration Oral History series:

Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, in First Person: An Oral History

Even as a girl, Antoinette Rocklage had a “nose for need,” a sensitivity to the needs of others. Growing up in a large family, she recalls having discerned that her mother rarely had time to herself to sit and read, so she decided to read aloud to her … a three-volume set for two weeks nonstop. Growing up in the close-knit community of the Baden neighborhood of north St. Louis nurtured her academic and spiritual development. After graduating high school, she entered nurses training, which she enjoyed and did well at, but where she eventually had the epiphany moment, “I don’t want to be giving enemas the rest of my life.”

While in nurses training, Antoinette Rocklage became part of a sodality, which offered opportunities to participate in different types of prayer and service. The quiet times appealed to her, and she began to sense a call toward exploring becoming a sister. She began what would become a lifelong journey with the Sisters of Mercy, which had been founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831 by Catherine McAuley. The Sisters of Mercy have a heart for the poor, those needing education, those needing health care, and more broadly, “anyone wounded by contemporary society.”

Antoinette Rocklage became Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, beginning a lifelong mission in leadership and guidance of health care providers under the aegis of the Sisters of Mercy. Her early administrative experience was with St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, where she served as director of nursing service and then as president. In the 1980s, Sister Roch became provincial administrator of the Sisters of Mercy St. Louis Province where she participated in the creation of the Sisters of Mercy Health System. She was the first CEO of the system, now known simply as Mercy, and continues to work there today as the Health Ministry Liaison.

In her oral history, Sister Roch discusses the events of her career and the people she met, not only in the St. Louis area, but also in her role as chair of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees in 2002. Among her accomplishments at the Sisters of Mercy Health System was recognition of the decline in the number of women religious and the need to transition to lay leadership. She discusses how the system made this transition and yet retained ties to the order.

The full text of this new oral history is available at no charge on the Center website at http://www.aha.org/chhah. Other recent oral history interviews that can be found on the website include that of Howard J. Berman, Paul M. Ellwood, Jr., M.D., John R. Griffith, Richard J. Davidson, Gail L. Warden, Ruth Rothstein, and Wade Mountz.

Great public health achievements–worldwide, 2001-2010

The AHA Resource Center — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:35:29 +0000

Previously, we posted a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s report on ten great public health achievements in the U.S. The CDC has also identified public health achievements worldwide:

Reductions in Child Mortality
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
Access to Safe Water and Sanitation
Malaria Prevention and Control
Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS
Tuberculosis Control
Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases
Tobacco Control
Increased Awareness and Response for Improving Global Road Safety
Improved Preparedness and Response to Global Health Threats

Source: Ten great public health achievements–Worldwide, 2001-2010. MMWR. 60(24):814-818, June 24, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6024a4.htm

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050, chhah@aha.org.

New oral history: Howard J. Berman

The AHA Resource Center — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:24:22 +0000

The Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History announces a new publication in the Hospital Administration Oral History series:

Howard J. Berman, in First Person: An Oral History

Born and raised in Chicago, Howard Berman grew up in a family that valued community service. As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois he studied finance, but became drawn to health administration. Mr. Berman entered the graduate program at the University of Michigan where he studied with, and was mentored by, Professor John R. Griffith.

After completing a residency with the New York City Department of Hospitals, Mr. Berman worked for the Blue Cross Association, and later the American Hospital Association. In his association work, he was responsible for managing teams that researched solutions for management problems. Remembering his role in contributing to association policy, Mr. Berman says, “It’s taken me awhile to understand that we were working on ‘policy.’ We were working on what were the most interesting health care management problems. We were all trained as managers. We were all educated as managers. To us, managing was how you utilize scarce resources to best serve your communities.”

Howard Berman left the American Hospital Association to become the President/CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of the Rochester (NY) Area, now known as Excellus. After retiring, he has joined the faculty at the Bittner School of Business of St. John Fisher College (Rochester, NY). Mr. Berman is the author of a number of influential works, including the books, The Financial Management of Hospitals, Economics in Health Care, Shapers of American Health Care Policy, A Great Board, and Making a Difference.

The full text of this new oral history is available at no charge on the Center website at http://www.aha.org/chhah.

The history of public hospitals

The AHA Resource Center — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:30:19 +0000

Public hospitals as we know them today grew out of municipal and community efforts to care for the chronically ill and disabled. Bellevue Hospital in New York City started in 1736 as a six-bed ward in the New York City Almshouse. To trace the evolution of these “safety net” hospitals, the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health System published “A history of public hospitals in the United States” in The SafetyNet magazine. To view this and other historical materials, see http://www.naph.org/Homepage-Sections/Explore/History.aspx.

Source: Simmons, J. G. A history of public hospitals in the United States. The SafetyNet. 20(1):6-10, Spring 2006.

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, chhah@aha.org, (312) 422-2050.

History of health care in Chicago

The AHA Resource Center — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:36:48 +0000

Now available on the Internet Archive is the full text of History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, published in 1922. Sponsored by the Chicago Medical Society, the book provides biographical information on leading physicians and surgeons in the metropolitan area from 1803 to 1922. Biographies are arranged in chronological order.

It also includes the history of medical institutions in Chicago, beginning with Mercy Hospital, which was launched as Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes in 1850. The histories continue through the establishment in 1921 of United States Public Health Hospital No. 2, also known as the Edward Hines, Jr., [VA] Hospital. Other sections of the book cover health departments and medical societies.

To view the publication, go to http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmedicin00biog.

Source: History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. Chicago: The Biographical Publishing Corp., 1922.

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050, chhah@aha.org.

Digital historical collection now available from AAMC

The AHA Resource Center — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:16:49 +0000

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Mary H. Littlemeyer Archives has released a digital collection, “Foundations of AAMC History.” The collection includes AAMC proceedings, position statements, member institution’s course catalogs, association by-laws and constitutions, and other historical documents that describe the early history of the association. The earliest of these documents dates from 1836, and the sub-collection continues through to 1998. The collection is available at https://www.aamc.org/about/history/foundations/.

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050 or chhah@aha.org.

The new ER, after 50 years

The AHA Resource Center — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:26:19 +0000

Authors of a perspectives piece in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine take a look at the evolution of the hospital emergency room (ER) over the last 50 years. They point back to a 1958 study conducted by leaders at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, that found that ER use had increased at most hospitals nearly 400 percent between 1940 and 1955, even in communities with little or no population growth.

Almost half of the respondents attributed this increase in ER vistis to ”the inability of patients to reach physicians on weekends, nights or holidays for either emergency or urgent appointments and the orientation of the public to the hospital as a place where one can receive aid at all times.”

The intervening years have seen many changes in ER operations, staffing patterns, therapeutic modalities, technology, and complexity of care. The authors of the current article characterize the ER as a microcosmic view of the community’s health care system, noting that “the quickest way to assess the strength of a community’s public health, primary care, and hospital systems is to spend a few hours in the emergency department.”

Source: Kellerman, A. L., and Martinez, R. The ER, 50 years on. New England Journal of Medicine. 364(24):2278-2279, June 16, 2011. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1101544

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org.

SwedishAmerican Health System unveils new Heritage Center

The AHA Resource Center — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:40:48 +0000

SwedishAmerican Health System has unveiled its new Heritage Center, a museum that features displays and artifacts pertinent to the hospital’s history and culture. The opening of the museum coincided with the hospital’s 100th anniversary and commemorates a long history of medical service to the northern Illinois community.

Inside the center, visitors can view a timeline of the hospital’s history and special exhibits and artifacts that spotlight areas such as women’s services, obstetrics, orthopedics, cardiology, surgery, pharmacy, polio, and the school of nursing. Among the artifacts included are:

a bill from 1929 for a 12-day obstetrical hospital stay
an iron lung
antique wheelchairs
uniforms and other memorabilia from the SwedishAmerican School of Nursing
balance scales used when the hospital employed its own compounding pharmacists

The Heritage Center is open to the public.

SwedishAmerican has also published a 200-page history book, It Began with a Dollar, that tells the story of SwedishAmerican’s first 100 years through photos and stories.

For more information on SwedishAmerican Health System history, http://www.swedishamerican.org/history/.

Sources:

Westphal, C. SwedishAmerican celebrates 100 years with new Heritage Center. Rockford Register Star. June 3, 2011. http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x907621789/SwedishAmerican-celebrates-100-years-with-new-Heritage-Center

SwedishAmerican Health System. A Century of Caring. http://www.swedishamerican.org/history/

Posted by Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050, chhah@aha.org.

Not a cause for celebration: 30th anniversary of AIDS

The AHA Resource Center — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:57:14 +0000

It was 30 years ago today that the first report of a new syndrome subsequently known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Since then, 1.7 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have been infected with HIV/AIDS, including over 615,000 who have already died and more than 1.1 million who are living with the disease today, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) data. It is estimated that every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV.

The DHHS is using this anniversary to increase awareness of the ongoing threat of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and to encourage behaviors that enhance prevention.

For more information, see the following sources:

Pneumocystis Pneumonia — Los Angeles. MMWR. 30(21):1-3, June 5, 1981. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm

Frieden, T. R. Commemorating 30 years of HIV/AIDS. Media Statement. June 2, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/s0602_hivaids30years.html?source=govdelivery

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 30 Years of AIDS. http://aids.gov/thirty-years-of-aids/

Posted by the Center for Hospital and Healthcare Administration History, (312) 422-2050, chhah@aha.org.