40 Years
(continued from page six)
named vice-president for health affairs.
Dr. Woodhall is back at the IVledical
Center as James B. Dule Professor of
Neurosurgery.
Mountains to Sea
The Dule Medical Center's address is
still Durham, but parts of the medical
complex stretch from the mountains to
the seashore.
In 1939, Dr. Robert S. Carroll,
founder of Highland Hospital, a private
psychiatric hospital in Asheville, N.C.,
gave his 35-year-old institution to Duke.
And, in 1 967, Highland was fully
integrated into the Duke Medical Center
as a division of the Department of
Psychiatry.
Similarly, last year the Sea Level
General and Children's Hospital in coastal
Carteret County was given to Duke by its
founder, D.E. Taylor of West Palm Beach,
Fla. Now known simply as Sea Level
Hospital, the 88-bed facility is a divison
of Duke Medical Center.
Dr. Davison summed up the objective
of the Medical Center in this statement
from his reminiscences;
"The goal of the Duke University
Medical Center from the beginning has
been to emphasize the importance of
sound teaching, good medical care,
cordial and informal student-faculty
relations, and mutually helpful public
relations with the medical profession, and
to orient the entire program toward the
community needs of the Carolinas and
Virginia."
CABELL WARD - This is how Cabell
looked during the Hospital's first days. In
the early 1930's, it was used to house
nurses.
Nursing School
(continued from page five)
The graduating class wore for the first
time their white uniforms chosen by
them. This was the only class to graduate
in a white uniform.
The following year, the graduating
class wore the standard cap and gown of
the University. The white dress was not
worn until the student had completed her
clinical experience some months later.
Twenty-two of the 44 in the second
class graduated in 1934. Of this group,
one came from Florida, one from West
Virginia, and the rest were Tar Heels.
Of the third class, 38 students entered
and 19 graduated.
Thirty students were admitted in the
fourth class.
It is interesting to note a few statistics.
Including the fourth class, there had been
145 students to enter and 71 had
graduated, a percentage of 49'/2 to
graduate.
The admission numbers were fairly
stable, ranging in the 30's.
'Pride in Their Work'
You can see why Duke nurses were so
highly thought of. Their standards were
very high and their pride in theii work
continued after graduation. . .
It was expected that each graduate
would in her own way help to build the
reputation of the school.
Naturally, I have been interested in the
more recent development of the school.
Since there is no generation gap
between me and my students, I have
learned that the more recent graduates
have continued to grow in stature.
Members of the alumnae are now to be
found throughout the United States and
are entering the international field.
The students are doing their part to
bring honor scholastically. During the
past year. I've been told at least 75 have
made the dean's list with an average of B
or better. In proportion to the total
number of students, that is a high rating.
You have developed a graduate
program recognized by the University's
Graduate School and your graduate
faculty are members of that faculty.
Neither have you lost sight of the need
to revise and develop the undergraduate
program. . .
Do not forget that the graduate
program can only be as strong as its
base—the undergraduate program—and,
the core of it all is the patient.
Never forget that you have dedicated
yourselves to the welfare of those
committed to your care. This includes
faculty care of the student as well as
patient care!
If the student has not been
well-taught, she can not perform.
I would like to know more of your
course in human ecology. If it is what I
hope it is, I am delighted that the
integration of the sciences has come at
last.
May I say that while this is important,
it will not accomplish your goal until you
have applied those scientific principles to
actual practice from the viewpoint of the
patient. Then the patient will forever
bless you for the comfort, the assurance,
and the safety you have given him.
You are on the right road. Keep in
mind though from the graduate school
down, that we are all here for the benefit
of the patient.
MISSBESSIE BAKER
Miss Baker was the Duke School of
Nursing's first dean, coming to Durham in
1929 to oversee final plans for the opening
of the school at the end of 1930.
She received her nursing diploma from
the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of
Nursing in 1902 and was later assistant
director of nursing there. She earned her B.
S. degree from Teachers' College of
Columbia University in 1922 and then
took a post as director of nursing at Charles
T. Miller Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., and
assistant professor of nursing- at the
University of Minnesota. She retired from
her postat Duke in 1938anddied in 1942.
The nurses home adjacent to the Hospital
was named Baker House in her honor in
1943.