Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 23
JUNE 9, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Garden complements library’s historical collection
By David Williamson
Young minds aren't the only things
being cultivated this spring at the Medical
Center Library.
Staff members there are also growing
aphrodisiacs and cures for cancer,
nightmares and baldness.
Don't get your hopes up though. Their
products are not for sale, and they
probably wouldn't work anyway,
according to Terry Cavanagh, curator of
the library's historical collection.
The project is a special medical garden
filled with plants that throughout history
have been accorded special healing
virtues. Cavanagh calls it more of a
curiosity than anything else.
"No, most of the plants won't do you
any good, but most of them won't do you
any harm either," he said. "We didn't put
out anything really dangerous like
belladonna (deadly nightshade) although
it has more authentic uses than many of
the others."
Tree of Hippocrates
The garden, which was planted last
spring, occupies a pair of large wooden
tubs on the northwest terrace of the
Seeley G. Mudd Building.
Two plane trees grown from seedlings
that were presented to the School of
Medicine in 1973 dominate the tubs.
Susan Carlton Smith, conservator of the
historical collection and unofficial chief
gardener, said the seedlings came from
the Tree of Hippocrates on the Greek
Island of Cos.
Hippocrates, a physician who lived
from around 460-377 B.C. and has been
called "the father of medicine," is said to
have instructed students under the tree.
Smith explained. Currently, however,
the legend received more support from
promoters of the Greek tourist industry
than from medical historians.
Ancient herbs
Around the plane trees, which are
related to the sycamores found in this
IContinued on page 4l
GOOD FOR ALL ILLS—Susan Carlton Smith and Terry Cavanagh check
on the growth of plants in the medical garden. The garden is filled with
plants that throughout history have been accorded special healing
virtues. fPholo by Thad Sparks)
Center helps parents avoid bewilderment
A developmental disability in a child is
not an easy thing for parents to accept.
And the child's adjustment to a disability
can be hindered because the parents do
not understand the disability.
Yet interpreting the evaluations of
LAND HO.'—Toys and games are used by the staff of the Developmental Evaluation Center (DEC)
in screening children who are suspected of having some type of disability. Doris Gothard,
educational coordinator at the DEC, watches as a child plays with one of the diagnostic toys — a
plastic cylinder used to determine eye dominance.
different specialists and integrating them
into applicable information about the
child's disability can confuse and bewilder
many parents.
The Duke Developmental Evaluation
Center (DEC) is one of 19 clinics in North
Carolina established by the state in 1964
to help evaluate disabled children and
work with the parents in understanding
the child's disability. It is funded by a
contract from the N.C. State Department
of Human Resources with Duke's
Department of Pediatrics.
Team approach
Because disabilities often overlap into
more than one developmental area,
evaluating the disability requires using
several different professionals. The DEC
uses the interdisciplinary team approach
to evaluate diagnostically, plan and
consult with children and their families
who have special needs.
Therefore, several professionals may
evaluate a child's abilities but they
function together as a team in reaching an
understanding of the child's problems and
in making recommendations.
Short-term intervention
"We use the interdisciphnary approach
to establish what the disability is because
it is difficult for any problem to be isolated
in only one aspect of a child's life," said
Doris Gothard, educational coordinator
at the DEC.
The DECs are designed to offer short
term intervention in working with
children who are suspected of having a
problem in one or more areas of
development such as learning, muscle
coordination, speech and behavior.
"We evaluate a variety of special needs
in children," Gothard said. "Learning
disabilities, language and speech
disorders, emotional problems and
physical difficulties such as cerebral
palsy."
The Dia.e DEC staff has professional
representatives from pediatrics, social
work, education, speech and language
and clinical psychology. And because it is
contracted to Duke through the
pediatrics department, the DEC has
access to other services such as psychiatry
and neurology on a consulting basis.
Try to prevent major problems
People up to 21 years of age who live in
Chatham, Durham, Orange, Person,
Granville and Vance counties are eligible
for evaluation at the Duke DEC.
"Our caseload is largely concentrated
on the 0-8 year olds," Gothard said. "In
that way we hope to intervene at a point
(Continued on page 3)