Luncheon called ‘an inspired idea’
Of the St. Louis American
A pair of medical pioneers and a unique multi-denominational health organization were honored during Saturday’s 5th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care luncheon at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
Dr. James M. Whittico and Ella M. Bolden Brown, the 2005 Lifetime Achievers in Health Care, found themselves on the front lines of integration while helping people of all colors during their stellar medical careers.
Brown shared a story of a family she served as a young nurse at the newly integrated City Hospital.
“A little white girl, about 6, had been burned badly. Doctors told the parents that she would have to have skin grafts. They were hesitant to say yes,” Bolden said.
“They asked, ‘When she gets well, what color will her skin be?’ We explained that skin is skin, and that she would be white. I’ve never forgotten that. Their attitude changed in how they responded to us.”
She called herself a teacher, saying, “If I was not teaching nurses (directly), I was setting an example by how I worked.”
She said she warned nursing candidates to “be certain that this is what you want to do. You must be prepared to deal with human beings and you must show them that you are interested in them.”
She called her lifetime achievement award “gratifying and humbling.”
Upon receiving his award, Whittico said, “There is no greater honor than being loved and respected by one’s peers.”
He said he always had “people passion” and that has carried him throughout his entire career.
“What drove me into medicine?” Whittico, the son of a physician, asked rhetorically.
“I had a passion to do something that helped people. Because of this people passion, after I became a doctor, I just had to fall in line.”
He also said a physician must be caring to all patients, adding, “Treat everyone like you want your mother to be treated, and you won’t go too wrong.”
Whittico also related his work ethic to compassion.
“I’ve been called a workaholic,” Whittico said.
“I go in early, and I stay late. I have tried to unearth my motivation to work so hard – and it always comes back to people passion.”
Whittico and the keynote speaker, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, are Meharry Medical College graduates. Satcher has served as the university’s president and has often met with Whittico in Nashville and St. Louis. He called Whittico “a positive role model in my life.”
“I remember when Dr. Whittico was president of the National Medical Association he got President Lyndon Johnson to speak at our annual medical conference,” Satcher said.
“This was the first time a sitting president had ever spoke at any medical conference.’
The Mound City Medical Forum, which presents the annual awards luncheon with the St. Louis American Foundation, is an affiliate of the National Medical Association.
Orvin Kimbrough, executive director of the Interfaith Partnership of St. Louis, the 2005 Health Advocacy Organization of the Year, also called on people to show passion – this time, in the fight against continued attacks on Medicaid funding from Gov. Matt Blunt and the Republican-dominated state Legislature.
“In today’s political climate, where legislators are callously increasing the ranks of the uninsured, every voice is necessary and it is necessary that everyone object to this injustice,” Kimbrough said.
“In the heat of the struggle, those marginalized feel as though they are a lone voice in the wilderness. This award is in fact proof that we are not the lone voice. It is now important for each person to do what he or she can to impact this issue.”
Also honored during Saturday’s luncheon, which Satcher called “an inspired idea,” were 12 Excellence in Health Care Awardees.
They are Earl Beeks, M.D.; Dale Evans-Blackmon; Samuel Canann, M.D.; Jeffrey Carter, M.D.; Antoinette Lewis, LPN; Collins Lewis, M.D. M.P.H.; Darlene Long, RN; Rosetta Moss, RN; Joseph Simpson, M.D., Ph.D.; Jean Thomas, M.D.; Granada Walker, LCSW; and Jessie Watson.