Toby Benton
Barbara Sizer
Marcia D’Amato
Secretarially Speaking, That Is ...
Pretty 'Interns’ Make Medieal Center Scene
‘'Flexibility” or “Versatili
ty” could be the middle names
of any of the six medieal secre
tary interns who completed in
May a year’s internship at the
Medical Center.
The girls were participating
in a program set up with the co
operation of Duke University
and Lees McRae College in Ban
ner Elk, N. C.
Graduates of the two-year
medieal secretarial training pro
gram at Lees McRae are given
the opportunity to spend a third
year as medical secretary in
terns at one of several hospitals
and clinics. It is felt that the in
ternship gives the students not
only some practical experience
but also a better idea of what
they specifically want to do.
Other hospitals and clinics
participating in the internship
program are located in North
Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and
Tennessee.
If there is one outstanding
thing about the experience
gained at Duke, it is probably
the variety! During their in
ternships, each of the girls—
with only a few exceptions—has
worked in the Out-Patient busi
ness and/or insurance offices,
has interviewed patients, worked
as a receptionist and a secretary
in at least one clinic, typed in
a typing pool, and worked in
the office of at least one physi
cian.
Until March, Harry E. Brown,
at the time assistant director of
the Out-Patient Department,
was responsible for the girls’
orientation and the planning of
their schedviles. Since Mr. Brown
has been named Operating Room
administrator, Paul Seibel, busi
ness manager of the Medical
Out-Patient Clinics, has been
working with the intern pro
gram.
When asked how they felt
about the internship at Duke,
the girls agreed that the experi
ence had, on the whole, been a
good one—and definitely an en-
.ioyable one, with the “best part
being the people.”
The girls with almost one
voice also agreed on another
point: ‘ ‘ Mr. Brown ... we
couldn’t have done without him!
Duke is so big, and when we
first came here we were really
‘lost’...and he was always so
helpful.”
The six have already decided
on their fourth-year destina
tions. Mary Luther is planning
to go to Goldsboro, N. C., to
work. Barbara Sizer will be
working in an internal medicine
clinic in Charlotte. Toby Ben
ton, who was married March 26
to a student at U.N.C., will be
remaining at Duke and working
as secretary to Dr. Herbert
Saltzman. Edith Rosenblatt, al
so remaining at Duke, will be
working as a “PRN” clinic
secretary and will be rotating
through the Medical and Surgi
cal Out-Patient Clinics. Susan
Ferguson wil be staying on as
secretary to Dr. Donald McCol
lum. Marcia Tomlin D’Amato
will be living with her parents
in Orlando, Fla., until the re
turn of her husband, a Marine
Corps officer recently sent over
seas.
Before striking out on their
own, the secretaries returned
once more to their alma mater
for the May 26 graduation cere
monies, at which they received
medical secretary certificates
and special pins. (The As
sociate of Arts Degree is pre
sented at the end of the first
two years.)
Collectively and singly the
girls have been outstanding as
sets to the Medical Center in the
past year. They have eased
countless office and clinic situa
tions when clerical and secre
tarial help was badly needed,
and they have been most coop
erative in accepting the frustra
tions that accompany frequent
and sometimes sudden changes
in location and duties.
The Medical Center bids a re
luctant ‘ ‘ good-bye ’ ’ to the three
who are leaving, extends a
warm “welcome” to the three
who are staying, and says a most
sincere “thank you” to each.
Mary Luther
Edith Rosenblatt
Susan Ferguson
• WE WELCOME . . . (Continued)
new son, born February 11. Mrs. Brewer is with the Physical
Therapy Extension Services, jointly sponsored by the Durham
County Health Department and the Duke P. T. Program. William
(Bill) L. Greeman has been promoted to chief hyperbaric Engineer.
He succeeds the late Donald E. Aanerud, who died November 21.
In Dietetics Mrs. Annie Crawford has joined the staff in the
Ambulatory Dining Room. We are glad to have Dorothy Werner
as Dr. George Wilbanks’ secretary in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Nursing Service welcomes the following RN’s: Marilyn Evans and
Joan Claytor in the Delivery Room (Mrs. Clay tor’s husband Bob
is a Hospital chaplain) ; Ursula Meisner and Janel Gelein in the
CCU; Marilyn Ogburn on Meyer; Mary Weiland on Cabell; Doris
Haase on Strudwick; Diane Burke, assistant director of nursing
for Pediatrics; and Kathryn Beall in Obstetrics. We welcome in
the Division of Audiovisual Education, Medical Pliotography sec
tion, Richard A. Dever who joined the staff in March as a dark
room specialist. We are very glad to have Genevieve Polomka, a
visiting physical therapist from Adelaide, Australia, who will be
here for a year evaluating patients with Parkinson’s disease. Joan
INTERCOM - 12
-KEEPING IN TOUCH-
Creswell, also from Adelaide, Australia, is here observing physical
therapy in relation to orthopeadic patients.
We are also glad to have Neva Greenwald from Columbus,
Ohio, who is now on the supervisory staff in Physical Therapy.
Also welcomed are Paulette Purser from Chapel Hill who joined
the staff of the Private Medical Lab as a technician in February,
and Virginia Whitfield, who transferred from the Private Medical
Lab to be a technician in the Surgical PDC Lab. Emploj’ees wel
comed in the Clinical Research Unit are: Fred McCurdy, a patient
care technician who came in Januarj’; Faith Russell, an LPN who
came in February; and Mrs. Linda Heintzman, an RN from Penn
sylvania who came in December. We are glad to have Wanda
New Secretarial Interns
During June seven students from Lees McRae College in Ban
ner Elk, N. C., will be arriving at the iledical Center to begin an
eleven-month internship as medical secretaries. Please be on the
lookout for them, help them feel at home, and to find their way
through our maze of corridors.
VOL. 14 NO. 1/1967
Photos by Thad Sparks