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

Page 8 text:

The North Philadelphia ghetto was one of ihe classrooms in our training. We learned about the decay of our cities, through the visual aids of boarded up homes and abandoned cars. We were taught how ingrained poverty, ignorance, and despair affected the human condition, both in mind and body. Yet, the hospital in which we learned was bankrupt too; it’s not easy to make money on people who have no money to pay. At the same time, monies did not seem to be forthcoming to people endowed with small political clout. The educational system was failing and bankrupt schools were not even able to maintain inefficient programs. Ours was an academic center which served a community—often the goals were in conflict. We spoke the language of the privileged, educated class and found ourselves separated from many of our patients b a cultural and communications gap. We were taught, by example, a particular form of racism mirrored by the difference in treatment and approach between private and ward populations. Often, our more “ignorant” patients would speak of experimentation, and sometimes we too might wonder why a particular test or procedure would have to be performed. ]pM yNlVWKTY MEDICAL CtHIER 7 5 - r »r«WMi HlWtsr ' Kis

Page 7 text:

Congratulations on having completed the first phase oi your professional training. Bn your own efforts you have earned the status and respect society has traditionally accorded to I he newly graduated physician. However, you are entering your profession at a time when public confidence in medical practice is undergoing a severe test and is in danger of being lost. Public disenchantment with the practice of medicine has recently created a movement toward regulation and control. Ironically, though, the need for our skills is greater now than ever before and the scope of our responsibilities is expanding exponentially. Adequate health care is not the exclusive privilege of the affluent or powerful, but is, rather, the right of everyone. It is obvious then that our efforts must be directed not only to the traditional restoration of health but also to the maintenance of health and the quality of life. Health is. in a literal sense, the fastest growing industry in America. Its magnitude, coupled with the fact that it deals with the forces of life and death, has resulted in the involvement of both the recipient and the purveyor of health care in the development of standards. Priorities in all aspects of health care arc now the joint concern of the profession, the consumer, and the government. Your class is among the earliest to have to face these new challenges. Accommodation will not he easy, and understanding by all concerned will be achieved only through continued sensitivity to public needs and disciplined efforts to meet them. Success will require your individual efforts and your participation in a team composed of a variety of health care professionals. This team must be able to look to you for its direction. Although the complexities of the times demand that the approach to health care be a total and highly organized one, the essential ingredient will always remain the creative contribution of the individual physician. I believe your education at Temple has given you the necessary tools to integrate the many components of health care, to provide leadership in meeting the health needs of modern society, and, thereby, to regain public trust. Dean Temple University School of Medicine

Page 9 text:

At the same time, we walked in feat in the surrounding neighborhood, and some of us were subjected to the unthinking violence of our society. The night inspired special fears from darkened streets and concealed faces. Perhaps, some of us missed the lesson that while we were able to escape that environment of violence, the permanent inhabitants of the community were subject to it at all times and could not escape. We had been placed face to face with the darker side of our society, its inequities and failings. Because of this it would be easy to succumb to a sense of despair. Now that we are set free, the four years ended, what directions will we take? The lessons we have learned cannot be forgotten.