Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Dr. Wayne Polek of Kane Anesthesia (whose job is to "wake you up"), presented to us the history of medicine in the Fox River Valley. 

The Association began as part of a move toward greater professionalism (and competence, and qualification) in U.S. medicine, which in the earlier 1800s, was of low quality compared, for example, to Germany and France. Doctors became doctors by apprenticeship, which was unregulated and informal. An apprenticeship might last 3 years, or shorter; with or without it, anyone could hang up a sign proclaiming himself or herself a doctor and begin practicing medicine. 

Early American medical schools did exist; typically a 16 week academic classroom course with no hospital or lab work, no testing or requirement to read or write. Illinois' first medical school, the Franklin School of Medicine in St. Charles, was founded in 1842. No word as to its quality. 

The situation improved; on Sept.1, 1864, 39 members met and formed the Fox River Valley Medical Assn. They defined what a physician was, outed bad apples, educated, and established a fee schedule. The Assn.'s first female president, Catherine Brown Slater (elected 1884) was a surgeon who studied at the Chicago Women's Medical School and later worked in Germany with world-renowned Robert Koch, the founder of modern bacteriology. 

Doctor Slater and other female physicians "appear to have been well respected and accepted by their male counterparts; they gave lectures on medical topics at membership meetings of the Association and served as delegates to the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association."* Too bad their competence failed to battle back the tide of history...
*Courtesy Kane County Medical Society