Good luck I put
you a block
or.
In almost any big city.
The centers of medicine
and surgery are big to hospitals designed to serve
thousands at a time to quit the most modern devices
and specialist an expert technician.
But one of the small towns no huge medical centers here. No imposing hospitals.
No large labs for a search.
In small towns doctors like this one must serve the needs of the community
a man who cares for these people can specialize in one type of disease.
He can't leave the rest of the long catalogue of sicknesses to other physicians in
a way the whole of the small town doctor is a specialist to a specialist in
humanity.
To doctors like Dr John Wade of Ohio USA each patient is a personality not merely a
mechanism to be set to rights.
It's one of the rewards of his calling to watch some of the personalities develop
from babyhood some of his patients in turn have watched him grow
and develop young and old the people in this community are his. Friends.
As he is there's
the patients in Dr Wade's office any morning a town in miniature is services
and is still are at the disposal of the rich
and poor alike.
Midmorning finds a doctor at one of the town's schools today as an accusation day
for the children of the first grade.
Compulsory vaccination has wiped out smallpox in this area inoculations against
diphtheria have sharply decreased the dangers of epidemics which once carried off
thousands of children every year in this region.
The prick of a hypodermic needle means safety for these little boys and girls
and they can believe the doctor when he says it doesn't hurt a bit.
Although Dr Wade name may never appear in medical journals.
He
and others like him make their contribution to preventive medicine day after day they
are the link between the research laboratory and the people.
The doctor keeps up with progress in his profession
and passes his knowledge on to others.
Once a week is crowded schedule crams on a visit to the hospital in a nearby city
for a consultation this morning Dr Wade is explaining the use of penicillin a drug
which prevents or halts infection in a matter of hours.
The doctor's three children
and their friends greet his return in the early afternoon as a big event
runs time gives the doctor a short rest
and a chance to talk over the morning's happenings with his wife.
Mrs Wade a former graduate nurse is a great help to our husband
when telephone calls come in foreign key knows where he can be reached
and can give instructions on what to do until he arrives. Today.
Mrs Wade knows the doctor can finish his runs before answering the latest call.
He sees to it that the doctor takes his own advice about eating slowly
and relaxing after meals
after his brief lunch
and recess Dr Wade answers a call from a Bennett farm a few miles out of town.
Mrs Bennett thought her husband had had a heart attack
and was afraid to let him climb the stairs to the bedroom.
He'd kept him absolutely still as Mrs waited vised until a doctor came to examine
him.
Tom Bennett has been doing the work of three men lately trying to manage his farm
without help in the Midwestern summer heat it's no wonder even a strong young man
like Tom suddenly found the work to have a.
Dr Wade will see if he can find someone to help on the farm
and tell Tom gets better.
A good rest in time will be up and about again in no time.
There's nothing to worry about. It's just overexertion.
After the visits to new patients there are follow up calls to be made.
Mary Sawyer is a first case on the check up list today.
She still hasn't gotten over a long bout with the flu.
The new sulfa drugs broader fever down but they left their weakened listless
but Dr notional regain her strength soon
but her parents are afraid she's getting worse.
Without their knowing it.
Dr Wade treats Mary's parents almost like patients themselves.
The first prescription is a confident reassurance that she'll be all right.
And the doctor has found
that it's a good idea to keep anxious relatives busy with instructions for the care
of their patients. So they'll have less time for worry.
Next the doctor stops in the see the Clark family.
They don't suspect
that this is a professional visit to check on Mrs Clark heart condition they
couldn't afford it then they'd be too proud to accept charity.
Sole Dr Wade lets them think it's just a social call.
And so it goes for the rest of the doctor's long day.
Dr Wade reaches home just in time to play with his daughters a bit before bedtime.
Sometimes he sees more of other people's children than of his own
but he tries always to be there
when they say their prayers at night.
It's not easy for a small town doctor to see his friends often usually his wife as
to take care of most of their social obligations.
But once in a while friends
and neighbors find him at home last
year. Dr Wade managed to get away for a week with his family and some for.
Then they took movies
and never tire running them.
This is the hideout where the doctor escapes as often as he can
and has no telephone.
On doctor's orders.
Perhaps the film technique won't win any prizes
but the movies revive pleasant memories.
And even a reminder of a vacation is relaxing
when the holidays are rare.
Mrs Wade feels it's high time the doctor took another day off and for a doctor.
The only way to do that is to get away from home.
The children consider this a delightful idea.
But sometimes ideas don't work as they're intended to just when the benefits
and the Sawyers and the Clarks
and all the others can spare a doctor wait for a day.
Someone else seems to need them badly.
The outing will have to be put off until another day.
The surgeon at the hospital where Dr Wade as a consultant needs immediate help in
an emergency operation.
This isn't the first holiday that's been spoiled.
Tough luck for the family
but good luck for the patient on the operating table.
This is a moment when all the doctors skill and training are called for.
When one uninsured move might mean the patient's death.
But the surest of moves can guarantee only another chance at life.
Once long ago. Ten years fifteen.
A doctor took an old. How did it go.
What soever house you shall enter it shall be for the good of the sect to the
utmost of your power. When he resolved to live by that code.
John Wade became what he is today doctor of medicine in the service of humanity
hope.