Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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New Frontiers . . . Aerospace Medicine Men have reached space and medicine must necessarily broaden its endeavors to preserve them in their new and unfamiliar environment. The development of Aerospace Medicine and its increasing complexity can be followed by the projects of past and present. In the World War I era, there were basic studies on human tolerance to lowered oxygen tension, psychologic testing, work on goggles, vision in aging pilots, cockpit lighting and color blindness. In the World War II period, studies were undertaken on color perception, night vision, effects of noise and gunfire on hearing, effects of carbon monoxide in cockpits and decompression sickness. At the present time, research goes on concerning water problems in space flight, planetary environments, weightlessness, algal systems to supply man’s respiratory requirements in space, effects of cosmic radiation, irradiation and bacterial invasion, vectorcardiography, adrenal function and stress, and HYPOXIC HYPOXIA DEMONSTRATION A total of 5 low pressure chambers located at the School of Aerospace Medicine. Brooks AFB, Texas, are used for the purpose of training students such as flight surgeons, flight nurses, physiological training officers and technicians. These chambers will simulate barometric pressure changes at altitudes from sea level up to approximately 200,000 feet. In this picture, the inside observer watches the subject’s performance ability prior to removal of his oxygen mask. Subsequent to the removal of the mask the subject is exposed to a rarified atmosphere which is simulated by the low pressure chamber. SCIENTIFIC WEIGH-IN An altitude chamber technician is immersed in giant water tank while seated on a scale arrangement which weighs him while he is under water. During submersion, the subject’s expired air is collected in a rubberized bag and is later analyzed for nitrogen using the apparatus at die right. retinal damage from nuclear phenomena. Most of the advances in this field have been at the initiation of the military sendees. In 1953, recognition of the tremendous importance of aerospace medicine led to provisions for certification by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Aviation Medicine. Tims, under the impulse of increased application of private and commercial flying, what began as strictly a military endeavour has attained the formal status of a specialized field of medicine. Requirements for certification are met by a three year residency, including one year leading to a degree of Master of Public Health. Opportunities to practice Aerospace Medicine may be found in the military services, aircraft manufacturing corporations, the NASA, and commercial and federal research laboratories. The demand for physicians can only increase. Research, clinical practice and actual space flight are all open to the adequately trained M.D. His rewards and challenges are figuratively and literally out of this world. 10

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How to Best Finance Hospital John F. Kennedy President of the United States Care f°r Our Senior Citizens? President Kennedy has given his permission for the editors talk given from Madison Square Garden on May 20, 196' ° the Skull to excerpt 4 What is the issue which divides and arouses so rmic-h 5 , ... . , , . , ■ay be typical, a family which may be found in any paS of Utc Unhed S.a.m “ A man owns his house. He has twenty-five hundred or rhr-. . . . . And then his wife gets sick . . . not jus, for a week but for a ‘V ? five hundred dollar - that , gone. Next he mortgages his hoX ThJhr children who themselves are heavily burdened. Then their savings begin to go 8 saying tten°JdW„ f,= “ d°? ' ' “d h' ” - • » Now what do we say? We say that during his working years he will contribute to social security, as he has in the case of his retirement, twelve or thirteen dollars a year. When he becomes ill, or she becomes ,11 over a long penod of time, he first pays ninety dollars, so that people will not abuse it. But then lets say he has a bill of fifteen hundred dollars. This bill does not solve everything but lets say its fifteen hundred dollars, of which a thousand dollars are hospital bills. This bill will pay that thousand dollars in hospital bills. And then 1 believe that he, and the effort that he makes and his family, can meet his other responsibilities. (Now various alternative plans.) — In the first place, there isn't one person here who is not indebted to the doctors of America. Children arc not bom on an eight-hour day. All of us have been the beneficiaries of their help. This not a campaign against doctors, because doctors have joined with us. This is a campaign to help people meet their responsibilities. — We do not cover doctors' bills here. We do not affect the freedom of choice. You can go to any doctor you want. The doctor and you work out your arrangements with him. — And then I read that this bill will sap the individual self-relaiance of Americans. I can’t imagine anything worse, or anything better, to sap self-reliance, than to be sick, alone, broke — or to have saved for a lifetime and put it out in a week, a month, two months. — This argument that the government should stay out, that it saps our pioneer stock, I used to hear that argument when we were talking about raising the minimum wage to a dollar and a quarter. — Nobody in this hall is asking for it for nothing. They are willing to contribute during their working years. That is the important principle which has been lost sight of. — What we arc concerned about is not the person who has not got a cent but those who saved and worked and then get hit. — In closing, let me say that on this issue and many others we depend upon your help. This is the only way we can secure action to keep this country moving ahead, to have places to educate our children, to have decent housing, to do something about the millions of young children who leave our schools before they graduate. We ask you, the citizens of this country, the responsible and thoughtful doctors, the hospital administrators, all those who face this challenge of educating our children, finding work for our older people, finding security for those who have retired, all who are committed to this effort of moving this country forward: Come give us your neip. 9

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New Frontiers . . . Medical Aid to Less Developed Nations Although the conduct of foreign aid programs is under continual Congressional and public scrutiny, there is little question that such proposals arc necessary, both as moral obligation and political strategy. A genuine desire to assist under privileged nations is evident in many of the technicians, educators and administrators sent abroad, but the question of political policy cannot be ignored, even in so “non-political” a field as medicine. Anyone who goes abroad represents this country and its ethic; his presence alone is a consequence of the humanitarian and political objectives of foreign aid. The demand for concrete evidence of cash assistance is understandable, but the pitfalls of dollar diplomacy are well known. Installation of dazzling equipment is accompanied by instruction in proper maintenance and a reasonable supply of spare parts. Less spectacular but more significant are the improvements made by programs in medical education. Distribution of vaccines, construction of hospitals and field clinics will control epidemics and reduce mortality for the moment, but they are only stopgap measures unless sustained by continuing programs in medical training. Every aid program must be adjusted to the physical and cultural climate of every nation. American medicine, as such, can only be practised in the United States; it cannot be grafted onto another society, no matter how great the medical competence or how ancient the history of practise. successful program must be pragmatic and flexible; so must the people running it. Calcutta Water Malaria Today 11 New Delhi Water