(Editor’s note: The following article is the second in a series leading up to the September celebration of Tyrone Hospital’s 50th year of existence. Information for the articles are being researched and submitted by Theresa Yanchetz, the hospital’s marketing director, and G. Kerry Webster, The Daily Herald’s editor, is compiling the information. This week, readers can learn the roots of the hospital’s early staff.)
When Tyrone Hospital opened its doors in 1954, there were twenty-one physicians that served as the hospital\’s first medical staff. The size of that initial group was a remarkable accomplishment for a small community and a fledgling hospital.
That first medical staff was critical to the hospital. Without the medical staff, the hospital couldn\’t open. At the time, there were several physicians practicing in Tyrone. They would serve as a core group of medical staff members. But, the hospital would have to attract additional physicians, particularly specialists, to provide the services it intended to offer.
Tyrone Hospital was also seeking federal funding and to qualify it was ready to form a relationship with an established healthcare facility that could serve as a mentor. The hospital established a formal relationship with what was then called Mercy Hospital.
The relationship provided a mentor hospital and in addition, some members of Mercy\’s medical staff agreed to join Tyrone\’s medical staff.
The arrangement filled the gap for Tyrone Hospital providing a pathologist, obstetrician and gynecologist, ophthalmologist, orthopedic surgeon, radiologist, dermatologist, urologist, and an ear, nose and throat specialist.
AN INSEPARABLE HISTORY
The first generation
During Tyrone Hospital\’s 50-year history, there has been a direct relationship between the development of the hospital\’s medical staff and the development of the hospital\’s services.
“The field of medicine has changed tremendously in the last 50 years,” said Bernard DiGiacobbe, M.D., Medical Director of Radiology and President of Tyrone Hospital\’s Medical Staff.
“The growth in technology and increase in the number of specialists has changed the way medicine is practiced.”
The very first physicians affiliated with Tyrone Hospital practiced medicine in a different time and a different healthcare environment. Even after all of these years, physicians like Dr. Ayres, Dr. Kech, Dr. Bradin, Dr. Kirk, Dr. McGeehan, Dr. Grebe, Dr. Erdly, Dr. Murchinson and others still have name recognition in the community and are remembered for the type of personal care they delivered.
Some of the physicians that served on the hospital\’s medical staff had offices located along Logan Avenue, an area that people referred to as “doctor\’s row.” Back then, some physicians modified a portion of their home to use as clinical office space.
Linda Harris of the Tyrone Hospital Housekeeping Department said she remembers those early years.
“There were no doctor\’s appointments scheduled. If you needed to see a doctor, you simply went to the doctor\’s office and waited until it was your turn. And if the doctor got called to the hospital, you waited until he came back,” she said.
During the hospital\’s early years, the doctors who were general practitioners were often involved in areas of care that are now handled by specialists. There were a number of specialized physicians on the hospital\’s medical staff in those early days. Some, like the obstetrician and gynecologist, were active members of the staff, but most of the specialists at that time had consulting or courtesy privileges.
Laquita Potts, RN, a Nursing Supervisor at Tyrone Hospital worked with many members of the hospital\’s “first generation” medical staff.
She noted a number of changes during the forty-one years she has worked at the hospital.
“In the early years of the hospital, there were still some physicians who made house calls.” Mrs. Potts said this isn\’t common practice today because of the time involved.
“I can still remember one doctor who would actually transport his patients from their home to the hospital, if he was on a house call and found the patient needed to be admitted.
“When I started working at Tyrone Hospital in 1961, there were still some general practitioners that did deliveries,” said Mrs. Potts.
Now, obstetricians do all of the deliveries. There are currently three obstetrician and gynecologist physicians (OB/GYN) affiliated with the hospital and a midwife is also available through one of those OB/GYN practices.
“In the operating room, we had a consulting anesthesiologist on staff, but there were also general surgeons who supervised the administration of anesthesia.”
Now, we have an in-house anesthesiologist.
Emergency services were also delivered differently.
“If a patient presented to the hospital for emergency treatment, their general practitioner was notified and came to the hospital to treat them,” said Mrs. Potts. “Patients who were not established with a doctor were seen by whichever primary care physician was on call.”
That changed in the late 1960\’s when Tyrone Hospital established a twenty-four hour emergency room staffed with physicians. Currently, there are four physicians who work exclusively in the emergency room.
