North Carolina Newspapers

ntcKcom duke univcusity mc6icM ccntcR ENGLISH CLASS An organizational meeting for the English conversation class for non-native speakers of English will be held Thursday. Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. at the International House, 2022 Campus Drive (at the corner of Anderson Street.) Further information may be obtained at the International Office, Ext. 2767. VOLUME 21, NUMBER 33 SEPTEMBER 6,1974 DURHAM, NORTH CAROUNA FORTY YEAR MAN—Elon Clark, who has served in many capacities in his 40 years and eight months at the medical center, retired last week. At a reception held in his honor Friday, he is pictured with a scroll signed by over 250 of his friends. (Photo by Ollie Ellison) 4,000 Applications for 114 Openings Medical Frosh Arrive Pioneer Medical Artist Elon Clark Steps Down After 40 Years Here On Dec. 30, 1934, during a bone-chilling blizzard in Ithaca, N.Y., a solitary young man boarded a train for the long journey southward to North Carolina. Bunded up in a bearskin great coat, scarves, galoshes, lor\g underwear and a hat with the brim mashed back in the current fashion, he thought about his fiance who was remaining behind, wondered what his new job would be like and tried to sleep. When he left the train the next morning at a stop near the tobacco warehouses on West,Main Street in Durham, the sun was high and hot. Carrying his luggage and still wrapped up against the New York winter, he trudged to East Campus to inquire where the new Duke Hospital could be found. A Tarheel farmer eyed the young man suspiciously and pointed, “Down the road a piece." Well, down the road "a piece" was two miles, and luggage, overcoat, scarves, galoshes, long underwear, hot sun and dusty roadway all conspired to make the walk a memorable one for the young man. Later, the hospital receptionist swore the 25-year-old medical artist who presented himself for employment that day was “one of the funniest sights I’d ever laid eyes on.” Forty years and eight months have elapsed since Elon H. Clark made his inauspicious debut at Duke. A week ago today he retired. In the time between those two events, Clark has succeeded in becoming as much an institution at the medical center as the gray stone walls which people the world over know as Duke. Trained, as a medical artist at Rochester Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University. Clark has served in many capacities here. He founded Medical Illustration (now the Division of Audiovisual Education). Patient Photography, the Print Shop and the Facial Prosthesis Unit. He taught medical art and pnotography to dozens of individuals, many of whom went on to found and head similar facilities at other medical centers around the country. In an era of repression of racial minorities, he was the first man at the medical center to hire a black into a professional position. His student later became head of medical illustration at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He designed countless medical exhibits which won honors in competitions throughout the U.S. until competition judges wrote to inform him that his entries would no longer be considered in fairness to the other contestants. He defined the color “Duke Blue" which represents the university on its official documents as well as on its playing fields. When the university needed a symbol to use on everything from typewriters and filing cabinets to ash trays and sweatshirts. Clark took on the job, making hundreds of drawings until the tx)ard of trustees' could finally agree on one. At President Terry Sanford’s request, he helped design the Duke chain and mace, official regalia brought (Continued on page 2) In the last century, when physicians were openly hostile to the idea of washing their hands before performing surgery, anyone could go to medical school. All that was required was that the applicant be white, male and have sufficient funds to cover tuition at whatever university he chose to attend. At that time many of the brightest young men went into the military, the clergy or the law. Others were either too rich or too poor to even consider entering a profession. Since the caliber and motivation of those who eventually became physicians was sometirties questionable, and medical science was in its infancy, it's small wonder that "going to the doctor ” was a life and death proposition. These days, however, the story is as different as it could be. According to Dr. Suydam Osterhout. professor in the Division of Microbiology and associate director of admissions at Duke University's School of Medicine, there were 3.935 applications submitted for 114 positions in the school’s entering class of 1974. That’s approximately 34 and a half applicants for each medical school opening. And over a thousand of those who were denied admission would have been acceptable at Duke. Osterhout said, had there been sufficient space for them. The 114 students finally selected, he added, are “truly outstanding young men and women. ” In 1974, like last year, the white upper middle class male has had to compete with women, minority applicants and students who could by no means afford a medical education on their own. This year there are four times as many new women medical students at Duke as there were in 1970. and over half the class is (Continued on page 2) Hospital Setting Provides Rich Training for Chaplains “We are at the heart of life—we are called upon to help people when they are going through the most human experiences and expressing the most basic emotions: grief and joy. We are with people when they are the most real and, for us, it is always a deepening, maturing and rewarding experience." These remarks of Geraldine Sullivan, a resident chaplain specializing in Pastoral Counseling in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program (C.P.E.) are shared mutually by memtjers of the medical center Chaplains Service team. In a hospital setting, Ms. Sullivan, like her colleagues, comes into contact with people from all walks of life who seek strength in the face of adversity. At Duke Hospital, chaplains play an integral role in crisis intervention for both patients and their families. Chaplains are a unique group of “listeners” who fully understand and (Continued on page 3} LEN DING AN ATTENTIVE EAR —Resident Chaplain DeWitt Myers pays a visit to young Don Chadwick on Howland Ward who seems spellbound by his new found friend. While helping to make Don’s stay here at Duke a little more pleasant, Myers visits many inpatients in the hospital who seek the counsel and concern of an attentive ear. Myers is a resident chaplain specializing in pastoral counseling in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at Duke. His.training is offered in a joint program by the medical center Chaplains Service, the Department of Pastoral Psychofogy in the Divinity School and the Pastoral Care and Counseling Institute. (Photo by Dale Moses)