Federation of Catholic Physicians\u27 Guilds

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 23 | Number 1 Article 9February 1956Invitation: To Our TownFederation of Catholic Physicians' GuildsFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationFederation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds (1956) "Invitation: To Our Town," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 23 : No. 1 , Article 9.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol23/iss1/9HEAVILY populated areas of thecountry apparently do not provide the answer to all the ambi­tions of some of our Catholic phy­sicians to serve  the sick. Ap­proached by one of the Federation Board members in the East who is acquainted with the situation, The Catholic Hospital Association was asked to investigate the opportun­ities available in smaller commu­nities where Catholic doctors are needed. A group survey was made of the Catholic hospitals in the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illi­nois, Iowa, and Kansas. Question­naires returned indicated the great­est need for general practitioners. Pediatrics came second in total of requests, followed by general sur­gery. Obstetrics need assistance and pathologists are in demand. In the field of p s y chiatry help  is sought and internists are needed too. Opportunities for specialists are numerous. Letters defined needs. From a Pennsylvania hospital one admin­istrator wrote, "We have a va­cancy in p a t h o l o g y  and would appreciate getting a good Catholic pathologist. Do you know of one available? From Ohio came the following: "We are opening an­other 250 bed hospital and are urgently in need of a neurosurgeon and an opthamologist." An Illinois hospital reports an urgent need­"Pediatrics-we need a pediatri­cian badly." Another states, "We do not have any Catholic doctors 18 here and I think this would be a very good opportunity for one who desires to locate in a small town." Still another administrator writes, "Two of the doctors on our staff are aging; thus making a possible opportunity for younger doctors to come into the community." From the State of Iowa comes this letter: "Dr. . ..................... , general surgeon who has his boards in surgery is anxious for a good man in general practice or special­ized in internal medicine or obstet­rics to join him in office practice." Another letter reads: "In our new wing we have a fine 30-40 bed psy­chiatric department and the psychi­atrists ( two in number) here are not Catholic. If you could direct any Catholic psychiatrists this way we would be so happy." Kansas sent the most requests. "Have new 73 bed hospital and need larger staff," writes one ad­ministrator. "Orthopedist is badly needed here," writes another. From a small community the following was received: "Ours is but a 30 bed hospital. The town has a pop­ulation of about 2,200. It is in an agricultural district. There are sev­eral small towns within a radius of 15 or 20 miles. that are served by our doctors. Our hospital has been in operation three years. but is quite well establ ished." A plea from another area reads: "We are in dire need of a young Catholic general practitioner who will do o bstetri c s. We have a ful l yLINACRE QUARTERLY equipped 100 bed general hospital. Large Catholic population. [ncome unlimited." "This is a 24 bed hos­pital," writes another admit ,�tra­tor, "and we have only one doctor who is looking for an asso<iate." Even business men. publil 5pir­ited and interested in hospiti1 l0 and their staffs. responded to the '< c1es­tionnaire after discussing th•· mat­ter with administrators. F "TI a thriving mid-western town ,,,me this letter. "There is a nice lo, 1t1on available in a fast growing at1hur­ban area suitable for two \"Lltng doctors and a dentist. One douor is now practicing in the area \Ve would remodel as desired ,.t no cost to the tenant, and help -.\·ith the lease on a deferment plan If you know of any doctors who would like a good locat ion .  we would appreciate your reference ·· As evidence of community inter­est, here follows a letter from a hospital board member who appar­ently would do much for some young physician. who would con­sider establishing his practice in Kansas. Your letter to Administrators of Cath­olic hospitals in the middle west regard­ing Catholic doctors has been brought to my attention, by the Superior of our lo­cal hospital. I am secretary-treasurer of our county hospital board and we have the hospital leased to the Sisters for oper­ation. Only yesterday the chairman of our board and myself called at the hos­pital and talked with Sister Administra­tor about the availability of a doctor to come and locate here: today Sister called me and advised of the letter you had written. I would like to give you some history of our community and the opportunity that awaits a young Catholic doctor. This is a county-seat town of 1.750 peo­ple located in a rich wheat belt <1nd also has a large amount of stock cattle as well as dairy cattle. The farm income is FEBRUARY. 1956 quite diversified. Its trade territory take, in the entire county and has 6.000 people in our trade territory. We have two banks with deposits of more ihan $6.000.-000 and the county has more than $10,-000,000 in deposits with the banks and also an additional $10,000,000 10 govern­ment bonds. We have 875 farms in our trade area, in excess of 75 o/o tenant· owned. We have a large Catholic pop­ulation. There are 700 souls in our par­ish and we have four other parishes in our county, three rural and one in a small town. We have a parochial school completed just two years ago. The school cost $180,000 and is debt free. All eight grades are taught. The town has a new public high school, but we are large enough to have a Catholic high school too. We have a new 34 bed hospital. It was built at a cost of $400,000 and offers the latest in hospital equipment. The past year we have averaged 16 patients per day and the Sisters have been able to operate it efficiently. However, we are very much in need of a young doctor to establish himself with us. We have two doctors at the present time. One is in his late 60's and the other is past middle age. They both enjoy a profitable practice but are both limited in service and as a consequence we lose many patients to other commun­ities who would come here. I have talked with interested persons and we can make funds available to the young doctor until he can get established, for it would be only a short time until he would have a very good practice. To cite a practical point, last year the doc­tors collected 94 % of their fees. which to my knowledge is the highest rate of collection anywhere in our state. We would be very happy to interview an interested young doctor and would be willing to defray the expense of his com­ing to look over our town, our church. and school and above all. our very fine hospital from which he could work. We would also help him to find an office and get located. We hope to receive an affirmative answer. · This, then, reports the results of contacting a small segment of states to ascertain opportunities available. Other states can be can­vassed through the facilities of theAssociation on request of any phy­sicians who might be interested in19 , l locating m other areas. Sister Ad­ministrators are continually asking. "Where can we find Catholic doc­tors for our staff?" This is espe­cially so in small but thriving towns that are growing in industry. With the influx of population, greater demands are made upon hospital service and more do ctors  are needed. Their desire to interest Catholic physicians is understand­able. LINACRE QUARTERLY will re­serve pages to report situations available. Any physician who de­sires to investigate the situations reported should write to Rev. John J. Flanagan, S.J .. Executive Direc­tor, The Catholic Hospital Asso­ciation. 1438 South Grand Blvd ..St. Louis 1. Missouri, for detailsregarding exact locations and per­sons to contact. Requirementsshould be stated as well as time ofavailability.ANNUAL MEETING OF CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS 20 The annual meeting for Catholic physicians will be held Wednesday, June 13, 1956. The occasion is spon­sored by The Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds. All Catholic doctors are cordially invited to attend. The place-Sherman Hotel, Chicago The time-12:30 p. m.-Luncheon Guest speaker will be Anthony J. J. Rourke, M.D., past president of the American Hospital Association. PLAN TO ATTEND! LINACRE QUARTERLY Out of the Shadows FRANCIS J. BRACELAND, M.D., ScD .. F.A.C.P. President-Elect, American Psychiatric Association IT IS PROBABLE that there is notanother subject within the en­tire sphere of medicine which is more widely discussed today than psychiatry. and this is understand­able. For not only does the sub­ject have a poignant appeal but also man's emotional  problems seem to have acquired a sense· of urgency, and seem to be more in need of understanding and atten­tion today than at any other time heretofore. Partly because of ex­trinsic factors such as the chang­ing social order and the complexity of modern life, man now lives un­der a greater amount of emotional pressure than ever before. While he dreams and talks of security he seeks a method of coming to terms with a new and rapidly changing culture. Despite the pressure of external cultural complexities how­ever the most pressing insecurities arise because of the emotional con­ditions inherent in man himself. Faced with the task of adjusting to an insufficiently understood re­ality, man is at a loss for he has trouble understanding both the re­ality and himself. Like it or not, in the present day man appeals to the psychiatrist for help with .his difficulties. For the psychiatrist is the physician thought to be most expert in handling of intellectual and emotional problems of daily living. For help with spiritual problems. FEBRUARY, I 956 he appeals to his clergyman. That there will be inevitable overlapping between these spheres of influence is u nderstandable. That there should be any lack of understand­ing between them is unthinkable. Each discipline has its own im­portant task to perform, its espe­cial concern-the clergyman with things spiritual. the psychiatrist with problems emotional and men­tal. There has never been a quar­rel with the facts which psychiatry presents. It came under suspicion originally because of the philo­sophical overtone which accompa­nied some of its teaching. And yet. philosophy and psychiatry are not the same. Psychiatry definitely is not a philosophy; it is a medical discipline. And to look with sus­picion upon a whole ,  important specialty of medicine or to find in it an enmity to religion because of these concepts, long since modi­fied, is to belabor a dead issue. Were we to do this we would miss an important source  of help to mankind in distress. · It is true that the patients whowere mentally ill were treated bad­ly in ages past and sometimes ithas been alleged that the Churchwas even a party to this. There is!:jreat questio� about this statementfor the.Church has always had anespecial regard for people who were mentally sick. The reasonswhy the patients were treated bad-21 

Invitation: To Our Town

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Invitation: To Our Town

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