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By AUDREY L. WILLIAMS
Staff Writer
For a young boy who lost his father just a year__
ago, Christopher Mack is adjusting well.
He is following in his father's footsteps, thfe
Rev. Walter Mack, by taking on a leadership role
with open arms.
Christopher, the youngest of the Mack family
at 11, serves as chairman of the Student Advisory
Council Group at JLowrance Intermediate
School, which is just around the corner from his
home on Bon Air Avenue.
"When I was in the fifth grade last year, 1 was
elected by my class to represent them at thecoun-~
cil," he says. "So when Mrs. (Vivian) Bufke (the
school's guidance couselor) asked everyone this
year in an assembly who wanted to be chairman,
? I stood up."
% Subsequently, he became the spokesman for
his whole school.
As council chairman, Christopher carries the*
load of his classmates' problems on his back, in '
turn relaying them to officals at his school and
the council.
"Most of the time the kids will come to me or
Mrs. Burke when they have a problem," he says.
"If something needs to be fixed in the bathroom
or a water fountain needs to be fixed, I have to
get in touch with the principal so that it gets fix-.
\ ed."
Not only-is Christopher the kev for an onen
line of communication, but he says he is happy
with the whole atmosphere at his school.
"I like what goes on at Lowrance and how the
teachers and students get together and talk," he
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Dr. Vicki Lovings: A lifelong desire to be a
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By ROBIN ADAMS
Staff Writer
To most non-physicians, being a doctor is the
top of the career ladder. Not so, says Drs. Brown,
Latham and Lovings. ?
- "Medical school is very, very expensive."
Brown says. "At this point, there are very few of
us blacks who are able to have parents or relatives
who are able to send us all the way through
school. Most of us come out owing big sums of
money, and you have to pay that money back.
"And if there is some glory, it doesn't come until
later on in life. I agree it's a lucrative profession,"
she says, "but no one should go into
*
ine section
Features, Soorts,
liticking at 11 B
says. "Most of all it's a nice place to learn."
Being a football-enthusiast, he says he allcJws HBhH
for his free time to be spent playing quarterback
for the Tiny Vikings football team, as well as
dabbling in basketball, soccer, baseball and a lit- HH
tie putt-putt now ^
and then. ^ ?
Besides being the Y Oil HQ AII CI
big man on cam- S3
pus, complete with - ? ,
good looks and all,1 Ever* smce 1 waS 6 years ol
Christopher man- had me doing Th
ages to maintain an. started not being shy ..."
overall B average. ? Chris
"1 really like ________
school a lot," he
says. "1 study real hard and listen well in class. I
know grades are important, plus my mother
reminds me, too.
"Since I play a lot of sports, 1 thought about B|^G
being a professional athlete, but I really think I'd i I B
like to be a doctor or work with computers," he
savs.
Part of Christopher's job as chairman of the
student council means politicking for his constituents
and making several speeches to the student
bbdy throughout the school year.
"Every since I was 6 years old, my daddy had
me doing speeches," he says. "That's when I
started not being shy, and from then on 1 would
raise my hand in class to do a speech."
At his age, he's still uncertain about following I
in his father's footsteps.
"I've been thinking about it, but I don't know
if I'm meant to become a minister," says IHIH
Please see page B4 Christ*
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blacky female andj
physican has kept her going (photo by James
-y
iry is gone;
se they love it
medicine for the money. It's not worth it."
Says Latham: "There is no glory and fame.
There may have been when doctors were thought
of as gods. But all that's changed.
"I think the perception of rich and famous is a
perception from people not in the medical profession,"
she says. "You give eight years of your life
in school. That is a lot of time and a lot of work.
A lot of people don't realize the sacrifice you have
to make. You are at the mercy of this beeper. No
matter how much money you are paid, it can't buy
back the time you put into it."
Latham adds: "When people ask me if they
should go into medicine, I tell them, Tf you want
Please see page B4
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By ROBIN ADAMS
Staff Writer
?? it
If an aging, white male who is balding in the top
and wears, round, wire-rimmed glasses comes to
mind when you think of a doctor, then you need
to meet some of Winston-Salem's newest physicians.
- *
Dr. Gertrude Brown, Dr. Vicki Lovings and Dr.
Brenda Latham are neither white, old nor balding,
but all three are licensed physicians.
And because they don't fit the stereotype most
people have of what a doctor should look like,
they sometimes feekthe repercussions.
"I get a lot of dirty looks when I walk in the
room," says Brown, who is the only practicing
black female physician in Winston-Salem. The
others are all residents or interns.
"I have been called a 'nurse' or 'Miss Brown,'
o
but I never correct or embarrass anybody," she
says. "If that's what they think, then that's what
they think. I know who and what I am."
Says Latham: "It amuses me. It doesn't matter
if you wear a white coat, 10 stethoscopes around
your neck and have 10 name tags on with MD on
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mem, peupie suu uiiiik you aie a nurse, tsui you
have to laugh when something like that happens
Three-year-old Ashley Lindsay receives expert t
James Parker).
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Thursday, January 12, 1984
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a difference
because it happens so often. A lot of people still
think all doctors are men."
But most agree that the stares and the misidentifications
result from fheir age, rather than being
black or female.
"Sometimes 1 wear my hair in two braids," says
Latham, a second-year resident in family practice
at Baptist Hospital. "And when I walk into the
room I look like a little kid. And if the patient
feels that a doctor should be 45 to 50 years old,
then I don't fit the mold."
"Because of my age, a lot of my patients want
to call me by my first name," says Lovings, 27, an
intern in pediatrics at Baptist. "But I was taught
to respect people, and I call them Mr. or Mrs. and
I always introduce myself as Dr. Lovings."
Contrary to what some people believe, being
black has not been much of a hindrance to any of
them.
"There are some cultural differences that I
notice." savs I nvinoc "hut I Hnn't lot thot Knthor
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me. Like I hear some comments about black patients.
I feel like a person creates his own problems.
"I let things slip by me," she says. "1 need to
finish and I feel that here I am getting what I need.
Please see page B4
service from Dr. Gertrude Brown (photo by \
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