Tulane University School of Medicine - T Wave Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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cognized that all four years of education needed to be consolidated on one campus. It was not, however, until October 1955 that a ten-story addition to the Hutchinson Memorial Building enabled the Second- Year departments to be moved downtown. In 1963, further additions to the downtown facility were built to house the First- Year departments, allowing the School to reunify its four classes in one building for the first time since the early 1900s. The Tulane Medical Center was organized in 1969 to broaden Tulane ' s commitment to medical education, research, and patient care. The Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic, the first such university hospital in Louisiana, was dedicated in October of 1976. This 300-bed hospital has enabled Tulane to consolidate a wide range of ser- vices in a tertiary-care environment. In the short period since its opening, it has be- come a major referral center for the region. ■4 Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic. Hutctiinson Memorial Building circa 1930. Since its founding 154 years ago as the Medical College of Louisiana, the Tulane University School of Medicine has under- gone many changes, and not simply in name. Several buildings have come and gone, and while many different students and faculty members have occupied these buildings, so have federal troops during the Civil War. Though Tulane originally ca- tered to those mainly from the South, it now attracts students from all parts of the United States. From its meager beginnings in 1834 with 11 students, the Tulane Uni- versity School of Medicine has gone on to confer over 12,000 medical degrees, 160 of which are to be conferred on the Class of 1988. Throughout the years Tulane has always strived to improve its medical edu- cation, and is now ranked among the top medical schools in the country, and perhaps the world. ..something of which we can all be proud. M Former Entrance to Hutctiinson Clinic History of the Scfiool of Medicine l- CWe

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The Richardson Memorial ► Building on the Uptown Campus merchant by the name of Paul Tulane bequeathed $ 1 .25 million for the endow- ment of a university. The state legislature then placed all the departments of the University of Louisiana under the newly named Tulane University of Louisiana. This donation enabled the school to once again assume front rank among American medical schools. By the early 1890s, rapid growth had established the need for new facilities. In 1893, a new building, the Richardson Memorial Building, was built on Canal Street. Although this was heralded as one of the best equipped medical buildings of its day, by 1907, further expansion was again needed. At that time Alexander Hutchinson bequeathed a large sum in memory of his wife Josephine. This fund was used to construct a new Richardson Building on land that was to become part of the Uptown Campus. This building was designed to house all the preclinical depart- ments. Facilities of the old Richardson Building were enlarged for clinical teaching purposes and renamed the Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building. Meanwhile, the school was continually attempting to raise its standards. When it was initially founded, the school year lasted four months, and two full courses of lec- tures were required for graduation. Since only one set of courses existed, the students were expected to take the same ones twice. Admission to these lectures was gained with a ticket purchased for the price of $20. At that time, this was the sole means by which the professors were paid. Additional fees included a matriculation fee of $5, and a diploma fee of $30. Incidental expenses included the purchase of two arms for dissection at 25 cents each. The require- ment for admission was also rather simple, being only the ability to finance one ' s education. Gradually, the annual sessions were expan- ded from the original four months to four and one-half months in 1879, then to six months in 1893. It was also in that year that an educational qualification for admission Anatomy class in the Josephine ► Hutchinson Memorial Building. was first required of all students, namely a second grade teacher ' s certificate of a superintendent of education. Also, to fur- ther strengthen educational standards, attendance in three instead of two annual sessions was required. In 1899, this was lengthened to four obligatory sessions, and in later years, the length of these sessions was further increased until the curriculum evolved into what it is today. By the early 1 900s, it became apparent that a high degree of difference existed between the various medical schools in the country. In 1908, Abraham Flexner was selected by the Carnegie Foundation to undertake an analysis of the state of medical education. Flexner made a study of 155 American and Canadian medical schools, beginning at Tulane in the winter of 1908. He published his report in 1910, describing shocking and deplorable conditions in many places of medical education. This opened the eyes of the public and the medical community such that Flexner ' s report was, in effect, an obi- 16 T-Wave tuary for a great many medical colleges. Within a few years, almost half of the them had disappeared, for the most part because of the adverse publicity. Although Flexner found medical education at Tulane far from ideal, he ranked the school among the top three medical schools in the South. Tulane ' s high ranking was based on new and excellent laboratory facilities, the teaching faculty, the clinical availability of Charity Hospital, and the post-graduate instruction provided by the New Orleans Polyclinic. In 1913, Tulane reorganized the Medical Department to include the School of Pharmacy, the School of Dentistry, the School of Medicine, and the Graduate School of Medicine. Today, only the latter two remain, the latter within the Graduate School. In 1958, the Division of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was established, which has since evolved into the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. The Josephine Hutchinson Memorial Building continued to house the clinical facilities of the School for nearly forty years. However, by the late 1920s, it had become crowded and obsolete. Funds were provided for a new medical unit, called the Hutchinson Memorial Building, to be built contiguous with Charity Hospital at what is now the present location of the School of Medicine. When it opened in December 1 930, the building was acclaimed as the best medical training unit in the South. The preclinical departments, unfortunately, were still located on the Uptown Campus. In order to to provide the most enriching medical environment possible, it was re- JL i M» m!SnM

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Charity Hospital of New Orleans: A Rich History a Poor State of Affairs by John E. Salvaggio, MD Henderson Professor of Medicine Charity Hospital embraces an intriguing and colorful past, and has served a real pur- pose. It is steeped in Louisiana history, and has survived difficult times and some of the worst political squabbles and patronage problems in the country, enduring for over 250 years primarily because it was needed. Its charter dates to January 1736, when Jean Louis, a French sailor formerly employed by the Company of the Indies who worked in New Orleans as a boat builder, bequeathed his estate of approxi- mately 10,000 livres (about $2,500 today) to the founding and furnishing of Charity Hospital in early French colonial Louisiana. This makes it the oldest continually operat- ing hospital in what is now United States territory. (Bellevue Hospital in New York City is also the same age, but was estab- lished two months after Charity.) Perhaps it was the abandonment of the poor, who could not be cared for at the French military or Royal Hospital, that induced Jean Louis to be so generous. Ini- tially called the Hospital of St. John or Le Hopital des Pauvres de la Charite (Hospital for the Poor), its charter came into effect upon Louis ' death. In his wisdom, Louis appointed the Reve- rend Father Philippe, Parish Cure and pas- tor of St. Louis Cathedral, to work with Councilman Raguet in disbursing his legacy and running the Hospital. Sunday collec- tions were taken in the cathedral to support Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, Early ► Charity Hospital Benefactor. it. In addition, several local individuals made donations of property in their wills. On March 10, 1736, a house at Chartres and Bienville Streets became the first quar- ters for the Hospital. Patients must have been admitted immediately, because only a month after its opening the house proved to be too small and by 1743 it became neces- sary to replace it. A governmental land grant at the ship-turn at the end of a canal and fronting on the cemetery was provided to build the new Hospital. This location was advantageous since supplies could be unloaded from the ships as well as patients transferred to or received at the Hospital. Its proximity to a cemetery was also of obvious advantage. After Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1763, the French were allowed to admin- ister Charity for six more years. With the arrival of Governor O ' Reilly in late 1769, however, Charity came under control of church authorities and the Spanish govern- ment, as was the custom of such hospitals in Madrid and other Spanish cities. In 1779, a great hurricane wreaked havoc upon New Orleans, reducing Charity Hos- pital to ruins. Only the kitchen and store- house escaped its fury. This destruction resulted in much consternation and suffer- ing, leaving homeless patients to perish upon the streets or in some obscure cor- ner. Nonetheless, the Hospital survived. During this terrible time, Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, a former war clerk, civil notary, and noble gentleman born in Andalusa, Spain, came to Louisiana and rescued the Hospital. He was a leading citi- zen of the colony and made a modest for- tune as an owner of retail stores adjacent to Jackson Barracks. He was described by some as a selfless benefactor and by oth- ers as an opportunistic land speculator. Almonester offered the huge amount of $114,000 to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Hospital. It was completed in October 1785, and named the Charity Hospital of St. Charles (the San Carlos Hospital) in