Oklahoma
January/February, 2003 a publication of the Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association
Dr. Donahue remembered
I am Ernest Shadid, a psychiatrist and I worked with Dr. Donahue when he returned to Oklahoma in 1962 as Superintendent of Central State Griffin Memorial Hospital. We were colleagues, neighbors since we lived on the hospital grounds, and we were very close friends.
I will not mention Dr. Donahue
=s many accomplishments since these are probably known to most of you. I will only mention one that is not well known, Dr. Donahue was a member of the Benjamin Rush Society, a group consisting of only 25 of the most outstanding psychiatrists in the United States and Dr. Donahue was a charter member.Some of the many experiences which impressed me with Dr. Donahue are:
1. Dr. Donahue worked from morning to night, six days a week. He would travel any time and any place in the State of Oklahoma to educate church groups, civic groups or any group about the need to support mental health in the state. To paraphrase a well-known statement, Dr. Donahue never met a group he wouldn
=t talk to about the importance of mental health and the need to support mental health. If he could not personally make a speech, he would often ask me to do this. On one occasion, he asked me to talk to a church group in a town about an hour from Norman. The next day, I told Dr. Donahue I thought this trip might have been a waste of time since the group consisted of only about eight individuals. He informed me that now there were eight more individuals that now understood mental health and the need to support mental health. This reflected his patience and optimism and sense of mission to educate the citizens of the state.2. He would spend time with any relative of a patient who may be concerned or upset. On one occasion, he spent three hours with the father of a patient on a Saturday afternoon. Dr. Donahue spent three hours visiting and counseling with the father to help him understand his daughter
=s condition.3. Before the patient wards of the hospital had central heat and air, some of the wards, on cold winter nights, were difficult to heat. He would get up in the middle of the night and visit the wards to make sure there were adequate blankets for the patients so they could stay warm. During the hot summer months, he would spend hours making sure there were adequate fans on the wards and ensuring the patients were as comfortable as possible.
4. Since the hospital did not have the funds to buy air conditioning for the offices, the clinical staff had to buy their own air conditioning. My office was in the Administration Building where Dr. Donahue
=s office was. I bought an air conditioner for my office. However, he refused to get one for his office stating he would not get an air conditioner for his office until the patient=s wards were air conditioned. Air conditioning on the wards occurred several years later. This action certainly conveyed to the staff that his respect and concern for the patients were unlimited.5. He set up educational programs for all the clinical staff, as well as the administrative staff. He strongly believed in the professional development of the clinical and administrative staff of the hospital. And, as many of you know, today the Hayden H. Donahue Mental Health Institute has provided, and still provides, wonderful educational opportunities and seminars in mental health.
6. He would spend hours talking to government leaders regarding the need for funds to further mental health. On one occasion, Dr. Donahue wanted to visit with a state Senator he thought was not supportive of mental health. We made a special trip to northern Oklahoma in the hot summer months to visit this Senator at his home to educate him of the need to support mental health. He did something similar on many occasions.
7. Probably the most important contribution Dr. Donahue made was conveying, to all employees, that the care and treatment of patients should be the Number 1 priority. Those of us who had the good fortune to work with Dr. Donahue will always remember his dedication, his concern, and his commitment to the care and treatment of the patients. Dr. Donahue was a true visionary and developed a modern mental health system in the State of Oklahoma. Dr. Donahue has left behind a philosophy of compassion for the treatment of the mentally ill that we will not only remember and cherish, but will pass on to future generations in this State.
Important issues for organized medicine
by Donald Chesler, M.D., President
Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association
The key issue on the AMA’s agenda is tort reform. Increasing malpractice premiums and large disparities between states threaten to restrict or end access to medical care in certain areas. You can have a doctor to see or a doctor to sue, but not both. I urge you to go to the Capitol on February 26 for the Medicine Day Rally and wear your white coat!
Finally, and perhaps most difficult is the issue of budget shortfalls among the states. Provision of care for the growing demographic of elderly, disabled, under insured and uninsured is ever more costly at a time when tax revenues and insurance company investment returns are falling. As doctors and citizens we will all be impacted.
Once again, OPPA’s integration with the Oklahoma State Medical Association is important.
"The strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack." -- Rudyard Kipling ˜
Congratulations
Congratulations to Barbara Masters, M.D., OKC, who recently became a Distinguished Fellow. Also congratulations to the following physicians who achieved Fellow status: Mark Rathgeber, M.D., Ada; John Andrus, M.D., OKC; Emily Rosenberg, M.D., OKC; Madhusudan Koduri, M.D., Tulsa; Katherine Klaassen, M.D., Tulsa; Nicasio Gutierrez, Jr., M.D., Norman; Alzira Vaidya, M.D., Ponca City and Ana Maria Bautista-Gutierrez, M.D., Norman. ˜
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