New Personnel Director
Hails from Tennessee
In January the Personnel Of
fice at the Medical Center wel
comed a new director. He is
Francis (Frank) N. Gay, a
“double” native of Rocky
Mount and Raleigh, N. C.
As director, Mr. Gay succeeds
Neil S. Bucklew, who resigned
last September to work on a
Ph.D. in industrial relations at
the University of Wisconsin.
Assisting Mr. Gay is Cecil C.
McClees, Jr., who served as act
ing director in the interim be
tween September and January.
Before coming to Duke, Mr.
Gay was employment manager
at Vanderbilt Medical Center in
Nashville, Tenn.
A graduate of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Mr. Gay majored in psy
chology and received his B.A.
degree in 1958. Following grad
uation, he accepted a position as
assistant director at the Recep
tion Center of the North Caro
lina Prison Department in Ra
leigh. He left that post in 1959
to become assistant director of
personnel at the University of
Virginia Medical Center, Char
lottesville, Va., a position he held
until his move to Vanderbilt in
1965.
Mr. Gay and his wife Helen
have one daughter, Anna, age
13, and a third member of the
family, a “dacher” (a cocker/
dachshund blend) that answers
to “Ebony.” Mrs. Gay joined
her husband in Durham in June
when Anna’s school year ended,
and at that time the family
moved into their new home in
Parkwood.
Emmett Kelly, a Clown with
a Nose for News
The silence of a clown in the presence of sick children can be
golden. And the smiles and laughter that breaks up the silence can
be precious.
When the clown is Emmett Kelly, Jr., and the children are
patients in a hospital, very definite therapeutic results are achieved
when the two get together.
Such was the case when Emmett Kelly, Jr., visited Duke
Hospital in April. Blowing iip balloons for the children and auto
graphing postcards of himself, the famous clown kept himself busy
nipping in and out of the rooms on the two children’s wards and
posing for scores of pictures.
Producing joy and laughter for children in hospitals is the
clown’s fulltime occupation these days. First engaged by Eastman
Kodak for its World’s Fair exhibition in 1964, he has continued
to serve the company in special public service assignments, such as
his visit to Duke Hospital. Since last May, Mr. Kelly has visited
over 355 hospitals in the United States and Canada.
Emmett Kelly’s presence was joy itself, and he denied no one
that presence. Nurses, orderlies, desk clerks, and anyone who
happened to pass by were quickly engaged by the clown in a pan
tomime conversation and often the rubbing of noses.
He certainly made an impression on at least one nurse, who
after rubbing noses with Mr. Kelly went off beaming, completely
unaware that some of the red paint on the visitor’s bulbous snout
had rubbed off onto the tip of her nose.
0. R. Administrator
Well Known to Many
If you have been missing the
familiar sight of Harry E.
Brown in the Surgical Out-Pa
tient Clinics, it’s because you
are looking for him in the wrong
place. Mr. Brown has recently
been named Operating Room ad
ministrator, and he now “re
sides” on the fourth floor.
“The organization and long
range planning in the O.R. are
now mj' concern,” explained
Mr. Brown when asked about his
new duties. “In my job, I will
also try to not only maintain but
to improve standards set up by
the initial O.R. staff.”
“The general running of the
O.R., however, is really left to
the nurses ... and we have good
ones up here,” continued Mr.
Brown. “Our nurses are really
involved in the Operating Room.
Everybody here rotates except
head nurses, and they are as
signed special services. This is
good insurance, for no one up
here can afford to be indispensa
ble.”
Since July, 1966, the Operat
ing Room area has been under
the direction of the Department
of Surgery, and Mr. Brown is
working closely with Dr. David
Sabiston, chairman of the De
partment.
“We are striving for a level of
excellence in patient care...
and this, of course, is dependent
upon the employees up here.”
emphasized Mr. Brown. There
are over 100 employees now
working in the O.R. under Mr.
Brown’s administrative direc
tion. Included in this number
are the R.N.’s, L.P.N.’s, tech
nicians, orderlies, maids, and
aides.
!Mr. Brown’s appointment
comes at a time of growth for
the O.R., for the number of op
erating suites will soon be in
creased from thirteen to twenty-
two ; and this will be accom-
])anied by an increase in the
staff.
At the time of his new ap
pointment, Mr. Brown was busi
ness manager of the Surgical
Out-Patient Clinics and also
assistant director of the Out-
Patient Department. Mr. Brown
came to Duke in 1960 in the
capacity of business manager
for Surgical O.P.C.
INTERCOM - 10
VOL. 14 NO. 1/1967