Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 26
JUNE 30, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Ancient symbol for medicine
associated with son of Apollo
SUMMER IN BLOOM — Twenty-three weeks ago, a photo in this space showed a closeup of a tree
branch clothed in the ice of January. An example of June fashions for medical center trees is this
blossom, one of many adorning the large magnolia tree outside the Davison Building. /Phoh hy
Parker Hirringl
By John Becton
A new practice using an ancient symbol
was begun at this year's Hippocratic Oath
Ceremony.
At the head of the procession, the
marshal carried the staff of Aesculapius,
which has been associated with medicine
since the days of ancient Greece.
“We felt that some symbolic
representation would be appropriate
during the Hippocratic Oath Ceremony
Most academic events do have one or
more symbols/' Dr. Ewald W. Busse, dean
of medical and allied health education,
said. He and Ort Busse, his wife, had
presented the staff to the medical school
earlier in the year.
The staff was fashioned by Charles
Earnhardt of the House of Joseph in
Boone.
Nearly 6,000 years ago
"The symbol of the serpent and the
staff actually first appeared in scrolls in
Mesopotamia as long ago as 3,800 B.C.,"
Busse said. "From then on, it shows up
over and again in history."
Preserving life continues in off-duty hours
(The following was rewritten from a report by
Loyd Little in the Durham Morning Herald.)
Quick work by an off-duty Duke nurse
and a student in the Physician's Associate
(PA) Program was credited recently with
saving the life of a woman at Northgate
Mall.
Jennie Mayfield, a nurse in the
emergency room, and Debby Teplin, a PA
student, were eating at the Salads 'N'
Such restaurant when they noticed Ethel
Wilkins of Sanford having difficulty.
In spite of immediate aid, Wilkins
stopped breathing and the young women
were unable a feel a pulse. However, after
a few minutes of special emergency
techniques, Wilkins' heart was beating
again and she was breathing on her own
by the time an ambulance arrived.
Tried Heimlich technique
Here is an account of the incident from
Teplin:
"We were having lunch when I noticed
a woman at another table seemed to be
choking on her food. We ran to her and
began the Heimlich technique."
(That technique involves a person
putting their arms around the victim, just
below the sternum and squeezing to force
air up through the esophagus.)
Restored pulse, breathing
"That didn't seem to do much good. In
fact, she had quit breathing, was turning
blue and we couldn't find a pulse. Then,
Jennie began an external heart massage,
while I gave mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation.
"Within three or four minutes, her
pulse was going again and she began
breathing."
When the ambulance arrived, Wilkins
was given oxygen and attached to an
electrocardiogram machine.
Teplin, who will graduate on July 30
from the PA Program, said this was the
third time she had been involved in such
an incident, outside of her routine
hospital work.
She said the first time occurred when
she was visiting her sister in Bronx, N.Y.
and a next-door neighbor collapsed.
Teplin said she applied cardio-pulmonary
resiiscitation (CPR) and the man
eventually came around and lived.
The second time was when a man
suddenly collapsed i^ the radiology
department at Duke. "I was the only
person around, so I gave him CPR until an
emergency team got there," she said. This
man also lived.
"I'm beginning to feel fated," she said.
Teplin, 26, is a native of Irvington,
N.Y., and said she already has a job in the
emergency room of Montegiore Hospital
in the Bronx after her graduation in July.
Mayfield, 28, is a Missouri native, but
has been living in Chapel Hill and
working at Duke Hospital for the past
two years.
t
-
NEXT? — Patients find the new facilities at the family medicine center much more accommodating
than the crowded rooms at the center's former offices on Broad Street. The new building for the
center opened officially for patients on June 9. Dr. William J. (Terry) Kane, program director for
the Duke-Watts Family Medicine Program, said the new building will permit 20,000 patients to be
seen at the center, twice the number possible in the old facilities. For more photos and related
stories, see pages 3 and 4. (Photos hy Parker Herring)
Mesopotamian legend also held that
the staff was originally part of the "Tree
of Life."
The staff of Aesculapius is the "one-
snake" staff, as distinguished from the
"two-snake" staff, the Caduceus or the
Wand of Hermes,
The Aesculapian staff is considered by
many to be a more appropriate choice as a
symbol for medicine since it is associated
exclusively with the history of medicine,
while the Caduceus is historically
associated with commerce and
communications. Its utilization as a
symbol by the non-combatant services of
armed forces has led relatively recently to
its use in a medical connotation.
Snakes useful
"Snakes probably became a symbol of
the cycle of life because of their ability to
survive the winter, shed their old skin and
reappear in the spring," Busse pointed
out.
"The ancient Greeks kept certain
snakes in their homes to keep down
rodents and insects. So they were seen as
useful creatures," he said.
The non-venomous serpent of
Aesculapius was a type of python, which
was one of these useful snakes.
(Continued on page 31
Tennis pros big fan^
of CF research
A Duke scientist began her Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) research this
month with a cheering section of 200 top
tennis players from throughout the
world.
Dr. Mary Callaghan Rose, a research
associate in the Departments of Medicine
and Biochemistry, has been awarded a
$20,550 CFF research grant, the third
funded by the Association for Tennis
Professionals (ATP) since 1972. The ATP
was estabhshed that year and adopted the
CFF as its official charity.
One of about 70 scientists receiving
CFF research awards this year. Rose is
trying to determine the cause of the
abnormally thick and sticky mucus that is
secreted in the lungs and digestive system
of children and adults with cystic fibrosis,
a hereditary disease which is incurable
and ultimately fatal.
Besides disturbing breathing, the
abnormal mucus which clogs the
respiratory system of individuals with
cystic fibrosis creates an environment
(Continued on page 4)