f
I
Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 13
MARCH 31, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Expected 'triplets' become Duke's first quads
D A I L
DUKE HOSPIT
Y ADMISSIONS
SATURDAY
05/25/78
A L
R E G I
S T
E R
HIST #
PATIENT NAME
ACCT #
PC
AGE
M90075
ROURA,BABY GIRL A
256966
26
NB
M90076-
M90077
M90078
r- ✓ or/ r>
ROURA,BABY GIRL B
ROURA,BABY GIRL C
ROURA,BABY GIRL D
256967
256968
256969
26
26
26
r» ■?
NB
NB
NB
O *“
By Joe Sigler
Duke Hospital's first quadruplets in its
49-year history were born in the early
morning hours of last Saturday, March
25.
In the space of 14 minutes upon Carter
Suite, the children of Duilio and Rebecca
Roura of Fayetteville tripled in number.
For Duke the drama began the
afternoon before when an Army
helicopter flew Mrs. Roura and Dr. Chris
Wilson, a Duke resident, here from the
Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville.
She was transferred to Duke because she
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THE CENTER Of ATTENTION—First one, then two, then three and
four TV stations called Monday to ask if they could talk with Mrs.
Rebecca Roura, mother of the quadruplets born here Saturday morning.
To conserve the mother's strength, they agreed to interview her at one
time. Here a smiling Mrs. Roura talks with her husband, lower left, and
Linda Woodlief, hiercom/Hinxtbtal reporter for the Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology. At right, WRDU-TV reporter Colleen
McGarry talks with Dr. Lillian Blackmon, director of Duke nurseries
and the neonatologist supervising the quadruplets'care in the Intensive
Care Nursery. (Photo by Lewis Parrish)
Prominent sociologist to deliver Carter Lecture
A nationally prominent sociologist who
specializes in health issues and sex roles
will deliver the 10th annual Harriet Cook
Carter Lecture at the School of Nursing
this afternoon.
Dr. Pauline B. Bart, associate professor
in the Department of Psychiatry at the
University of Illinois, will speak on
"Innovations in Health Care for Women"
at 2 p.m. in the school's Ann M.
Jacobansky Auditorium.
Her talk and the discussion to follow
are open to the public without charge.
The Carter Lectureship was
established in 1969 to honor the late Mrs.
Carter, a nurse who was co-founder of
the Hospital Auxiliary and active in
Durham civic affairs. She was the wife of
the late Dr. Bayard Carter, first chairman
of the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology.
The lecture highlights the university's
Spring Nursing Program which this year
includes a private dinner, presentation of
the School of Nursing's Distinguished
Alumna Award and induction ceremonies
for new members of Sigma Theta Tau,
the national nursing honorary society.
Sigma Theta Tau induction is
scheduled to begin at 11a.m. tomorrow in
Duke Chapel.
Bart earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the
University of California at Los Angeles in
1967 and has served on the faculties of
the University of Southern California
and the University of California at
Berkeley.
She is the author of numerous papers
on subjects ranging from depression in
middle aged women and rape to abortion
and sexism in health care delivery.
was expected to have a multiple delivery
— triplets was the prediction — and she
was threatening to go into labor and
deliver eight weeks early.
Three teams on hand
Dr. Stanley Gall, associate professor of
obstetrics-gynecology, the chief resident
on the service. Dr. Arnold Grandis, and
others working with Mrs. Roura
attempted to delay labor, but as Friday
night became Saturday morning that
hope dwindled as it became obvious she
was going to progress into delivery.
Still they were expecting three babies.
Three teams of two pediatricians each,
with resuscitators and other equipment,
were on hand and at 3:45 a.m. the first
baby was born, followed at 3:46 by the
second and at 3:51 by what obstetricians
Gall and Grandis thought was the last
one.
But soon they realized there was still
another baby on the way.
No panic, just surprise
"It wasn't a panic situation," Gall
recalled. Then he added what may be a
record for Carter Suite understatement:
"But we were surprised."
Quickly pediatricians from two of the
other teams were pulled in, equipment
was set up, a station was made ready in
the Intensive Care Nursery and the
fourth of the quadruplets was born at
3:59
/Continued on page 4l
Flu season worst
in at least four years
Speculation that this year's flu season
“las been the worst in at least the past four
years in the Durham area has been
confirmed by a computer in the Picken
Building'.
Dr. John P. Hansen, director of
University Health Services Clinics, said
visits for influenza by students,
employees and Durham area residents
since the second week in January have
averaged almost three times as high as
during the same periods in 1976 and 1^77.
The visits for flu are also running 50
per cent higher than in 1975, Hansen said.
"We now suspect that there have been
more cases of influenza at Duke and in
Durham since 1970 or before, but we
don't have enough information to prove
that," he said.
Record numbers
The sophisticated computer system
that tabulates visits to the primary care
facility in the Pickens Building and breaks
them down into different categories of
illness for each day was installed in 1975,
the physician explained.
The only figures available for influenza
treated at University Health Services
between 1970 and 1975 are the number of
admissions to the student infirmary.
More students have been admitted to the
(Continued on page 3)