Barnes Bulletin Barnes Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, May, 1979, Volume XXXIII, Number 5 Raymond E. Rowland retires as chairman Raymond E. Rowland, chairman of the Barnes Hospital board of directors since 1969, retired at the April 25 meeting of the board. He was named chairman-emeritus. Mr. Rowland, a member of the board of directors since 1962, is former president and chairman of the board of Ralston-Purina Company, and a member of the board of directors of the Wash- ington University Medical Center. Under his leadership, Barnes Hospital has con- tinued a building program, to be culminated with completion of the West Pavilion next year, which has resulted in the hospital having facilities un- matched by any major teaching hospital in the nation. Mr. Rowland became chairman of the board April Edie Curtis pins carnation on Dr. Ajit Varki as Dr. Dean Burgess watches 23, 1969, succeeding Robert W. Otto who had filled the unexpired term of Edgar M. Queeny The idea of Doctors' Day was introduced to after his death in 1968. Prior to being named Doctors' Day celebrated the Woman's Auxiliary to the Southern Medical chairman, Mr. Rowland had served as general by Barnes Auxiliary Association at its twenty-ninth meeting held in chairman of a $12 million Capital Fund Drive for St. Louis November 19-22, 1935, by the president the hospital. The Barnes Hospital Auxiliary honored the 1,200 of the auxiliary, Mrs. J. Bonar White, when she presented the idea in her presidential report. Born on a farm in Illinois, Mr. Rowland attended members of the hospital's attending medical staff the University of Illinois and was graduated from and house staff with red carnations, coffee and "On Doctors' Day we try to express our apprecia- the University of Wisconsin. After a brief time as doughnuts at the annual Doctors' Day Friday, a faculty member at State Teachers College in March 30. Auxiliary members greeted doctors at tion to the men and women of our medical staff who have dedicated their lives to the care of the Conway, Ark., Mr. Rowland joined Ralston the Queeny Tower, Renard and Wohl entrances Purina Company as a junior salesman in 1926. In and in the doctors' lounge. sick and injured," said Mrs. MacDonald, pro- gram and hospitality chairman of the Barnes 1929 he was made district sales manager and in Auxiliary. 1934 became a division assistant sales manager. After serving as manager of the Circleville, Ohio, Doctors' Day, a 20-year tradition at the hospital, plant, he became an assistant vice-president in has been observed since the Auxiliary was Skywalk construction 1940 and vice-president of the company in 1943. founded in 1958. Traditionally, the doctors are He was elected president in 1956 and was named presented with red carnations, whose analogy is to get underway in May chairman of the board in 1963, retiring in 1968. closely woven in medical science. This year's During the years he led Ralston Purina, the com- participants included Marilyn MacDonald, Edie Construction is scheduled to begin this month on pany grew tremendously in total sales. Curtis, Doris Smith, Carol Minor, Mary Baren- a 56-foot long skywalk linking the Queeny Tower restaurant and coffee shop to the sixteenth floor kamp, Robin Snyder and volunteer director Robert E. Frank, president of Barnes, said, "It has of the West Pavilion. The project, which will be Debbie Lord. been my good fortune to serve Barnes Hospital completed in four to six months, will alleviate during the decade of leadership provided by some of the congestion on the Queeny Tower Mr. Rowland. His guidance has enabled Barnes The history of Doctors' Day dates back to 1933. elevators and will give easy access to the East to strengthen its role in the health care delivery Eudora Brown Almond was reared in the small and West Pavilions. Georgia village of Fort Lamar and from early system and has made Barnes one of the most childhood was greatly impressed with the selfless The skywalk will consist of two steel beams, each respected hospitals in the world." devotion of the medical profession's humanitari- weighing approximately four tons, that hang an service to mankind. She always carried in her from a concrete beam on the roof of Queeny Dr. Ogura receives heart fond memories of the gentle kindness of her Tower to the sixteenth floor of the West Pavilion. family physician whose skill and understanding The structural steel skywalk, which will be lined DeRoaldes Gold Medal endeared him to his patients. In 1920 she married with windows, will hang from these beams. Two Dr. Joseph H. Ogura, Barnes otolaryngologist-in- Dr. Charles B. Almond and moved to Winder, smaller beams will support the floors. chief, was honored on April 1 by the American Ga. Her respect for medicine and the people who The first step on the project, according to Gary Laryngological Association, which awarded him practiced it inspired her to present to her local its coveted DeRoaldes Gold Medal, the highest auxiliary the idea of having a day on which to Frossard, McCarthy Brothers project manager for the Barnes construction, will be to build tem- recognition the association can extend. The honor the doctors. The suggestion met with ap- porary partitions in the Queeny Tower restaurant medal is awarded for distinguished career proval and the auxiliary observed the first Doc- achievement and total contribution to the pro- tors' Day March 30, 1933. and to remove the windows and the exterior stone. The concrete piers on the roof have al- fession. ready been poured. When suggesting that physicians be honored, Dr. Ogura thus became only the third doctor in Mrs. Almond originally had in mind only the After the initial demolition work, which should the history of the association to receive laryn- Winder and Barrow County doctors. Little did take about four weeks, the large beams will be gology's "triple crown" —the Casselberry Award, she realize, when her dream became a reality, hoisted by a derrick to the top of the West Pa- the James Newcomb Award and the DeRoaldes that it would include doctors in all parts of this vilion and put in place with a crane. "The critical Gold Medal. He was given the Newcomb Award country and the world. point will be when the beams are in the air," Mr. in 1967 for his research in nasopulmonary me- Frossard said. Once they are in place the iron- chanics and the Casselberry Award in 1968 for workers will connect the steel and install the distinguished accomplishments in laryngeal re- Front cover: Formal portrait of Raymond E. Rowland, metal docking for the floor. "Once the steel search. The only others to receive all three honors who retired as chairman of Barnes board of directors beams are in place, it's basically normal construc- are Dr. Paul H. Holinger and Dr. Francis E. on April 25. (See story on this page and centerspread.) tion," he said. Lejeune. role consumers can play in helping hold down ^ Immunotherapy vaccine health care costs. helps fight cancer ^ Barnes Hospital has joined 6,400 hospitals across An immunotherapy vaccine offered through the country as well as insurers, suppliers, busi- Barnes surgical oncology clinic is now available nessmen and consumers, all working to reduce Suf the costs of health care. to patients of Jewish and City Hospitals as well Mtt. as Barnes. It uses the body's own defense system to fight cancer, according to Dr. Marc Wallack, Hospitals, including Barnes, are trying to educate head of surgical oncology at Barnes and devel- the public to help keep costs down by having oper of the technique. them ask their doctors how they can keep hospi- tal stays as brief as possible, by seeking alterna- A five-year program began at Barnes in January tives to hospital stays like pre-admission testing 1978 (see July 1978 Barnes Bulletin) and recently and one-day surgery and by taking non-emer- i '/ gency problems to personal physicians instead of was expanded to include patients from Jewish and City Hospitals. The types of cancer include to an emergency room. colon carcinoma, melanoma and renal carcinoma, and a joint clinical trial is underway here and at As part of National Hospital Week and National the Leon-Berard Cancer Centre in Lyons, France. Elian Bryan, RN from Children's Hospital neonatal Hypertension Month, employes and visitors at nursery, rocks a baby in the Barnes premie nursery as Barnes will have an opportunity to have their The early trials for the use of the vaccine were part of the nurse-exchange program of the two hos- blood pressures taken to detect hypertension. conducted by Dr. Wallack in 1974 at the Hospital pitals. Barnes Auxiliary members, volunteers and edu- of the University of Pennsylvania under the di- cation and training personnel have joined forces nurses from each hospital got together to talk it rection of Dr. Hilary Koprowski, director of The to designate May 9 as "Hypertension Day," offer- over and the directors of nursing and presidents Wistar Institute. ing free blood pressure checks from 9 a.m. to of all three hospitals signed an agreement for the 4 p.m. on the ground floor of the East Pavilion. nurse-exchange program. "We are concentrating our efforts toward those Information about hypertension will also be types of cancers that are particularly difficult to available. "It has really improved our relationship with fully arrest surgically," Dr. Wallack explained to Children's," said LaFrances Cockrell, associate a news conference April 18, where he reported High blood pressure can lead to strokes and heart director of the nursing service.