Giving Tuesday

It's #GivingTuesday!

Our donors make our programs for MedChi members and the general public possible, and for this, I thank you. Due to the generosity of our donors, here are some of the Center’s accomplishments over the past year:

• Increased the number of clients seen by the Physician Health and Rehabilitation Program to the largest number in years. We hired an additional clinical manager to accommodate the surge in our case load.
• Created a Museum of Medicine at MedChi, featuring a display showcasing the diversity of our Boards of Directors, and items from our collections, including a 1797-1802 ledger compiled by Francis Sappington, one of the 101 founders, and a number of historic bookplates, collected by Marcia Noyes, our librarian. Through these displays and collections, we can trace MedChi’s 223 illustrious years of history and service.
• Hosted the annual Hunt Lecture and Ethics Lecture, both of which were well attended and garnered great reviews.
• Conducted major repairs on our 1909 building, including re-pointing the brickwork on the façade of the building.
• Investigated the causes of maternal mortality in Maryland, which continue to increase year-over-year, despite all best efforts to lower the numbers.
• Conducted 20 domestic violence prevention trainings, attended by 641 participants.

MedChi’s members and friends are also MedChi’s strongest and most loyal supporters. We value this support and encourage you to make a tax-deductible gift through the Center for a Healthy Maryland. Your contribution will help the Center continue to help other physicians who are struggling with addictions and other issues which are affecting their practices. You can make an on-line contribution here to support the programs and services of the Center for a Healthy Maryland. 

We count on you to support MedChi and the Center for a Healthy Maryland. We count on you to help us produce the programs that help make you a better practitioner, educate you about new practice models and historical precedents in medicine, and provide you with resources you need, both contemporary and historic. Won’t you support MedChi’s foundation, the Center for a Healthy Maryland, with a gift today? Please click here. 

Thank you so much!

Thanksgiving Greetings!

 From Everyone at MedChi and 
The Center for a Healthy Maryland
We Offer Our Thanksgiving Greetings
To You and Your Family

Happy Anniversary, Marcia!

When Dr. William Osler became the President of the Faculty in 1896-1897, the organization was in what they thought was going to be their permanent home on Hamilton Court, off of Eutaw Street. Dr. Osler was a well-known book lover, so the first thing he did was investigate the library, which had been formally founded in 1830. 

Dr. Osler found the library in appalling condition, with out-dated books in no particular order. There had been a librarian on staff, but apparently, she was not up to the task, and was soon gone. 

After consulting his friend, Bernard Steiner who was the head of the Pratt Library, it was suggested that Dr. Osler meet Miss Marcia Crocker Noyes, who worked at the Pratt cataloguing books. Although she didn't know anything about medicine, she had a certain spark, and Dr. Osler thought she'd do just fine. 

And she did just fine, working for the Faculty for 50 years, beginning on November 21, 1896 when she was 27 years old. I had never known the date that she was hired until I found some papers which had the date that she started working at the Faculty. She died on November 24, 1946, almost exactly 50 years after she was hired.

As you may know, we are pretty sure that Marcia is still walking the halls of our building... literally! A few months ago, four of us were working on a Saturday finishing setting up the Museum, and were all in one room. We knew no one else was at the office, but we kept hearing footsteps walking up and down the hall. One or another of us would pop their head out to see who it was, and of course, no one was there!

And then a few days later, as we were working late at night to finalize everything for the Museum opening, all of a sudden, the lightweight plastic dropcloth hanging from the walls suddenly started shimmering and billowing, even though there is no air source in the room and no windows. We looked at each other and gasped, and then burst out laughing, figuring that Marcia had come by to check out what we were doing being at the office so late. 

Congratulations to Marcia for becoming the first full-time staff member at the Faculty 126 years ago today!

Under Construction

As I have been going through the 55 boxes of books and ephemera that we received a few weeks ago, I am discovering all sorts of goodies!

Among those goodies are a series of photographs of the construction of our 1909 building. I had seen a few of these, but there were lots of new ones. They seem to have been taken over the course of the construction, which took a bit more than a year, spanning 1908-1909. And luckily, someone has dated the images, which you can see in the lower right corners.

Interestingly, the names of the architect and builder were on the front of the building.

From the rear of the building, overlooking Maryland Avenue. You can see the former PS 49 to the right of the photo.

Again, from the rear, with a lot more work done a month later.

Same date, and you will notice the complete lack of machinery.

Two weeks later and the structure is going in. 

Oops! Cut off the date on this one, but the brickwork is being installed, as well as some of the marble for the interior.

Late October. The crew testing the loads for the beams.

Early November. It's shocking how small the building looks.

Two weeks later, and the building is really coming into shape.

Brickwork is finished, windows are almost all installed. Two dates on this photo, December 1908 and March 1909. I am inclined to think December.

Looks like it's finally finished, and it will open just a few months later.

Just to make it a little more real, I colorized it a bit. 

It was fascinating to find these images and see how our building was constructed.