03.31.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:54 am by Administrator
Today is National Doctor’s Day. That is actually news to me. Some holidays just don’t get enough recognition. As hard as doctors work, you’d think there would be a little more hubbub about the observance. Many of them spend countless hours day and night away from their families to help ailing patients and save lives. I think they deserve to be honored.
I read that the origins of National Doctor’s Day date back to March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia. That state is where my family of doctors hails from: my dad, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. John Henry Jordan, my great-grandfather, was the first black doctor in Coweta County, Georgia. My great-great-grandfather, Dr. Edward Ramsey, was the first black doctor to practice medicine in Houston, Texas. He graduated from medical school in 1880. You know medicine has come a long way since then. If my ancestors could see the strides that have been made today, I am sure they would be amazed. Of course, the health care system needs to be straightened out (but at least President Obama’s working on that).
I just hope people around the country will take the time to remember the sacrifices doctors in their communities make to care for them, help them, and, in the words of the Hippocratic Oath, to do them no harm.
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03.13.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:08 pm by Administrator
This week marks what would have been my great-grandfather’s 139th birthday. Of course, he wouldn’t have lived that long even if he had died of natural causes, but there have been so many times when I’ve thought to myself how long he might have lived if hadn’t died so young in a freak accident. I’ve thought about it over and over again. Since my childhood days really. I always wondered how my family’s life might have been different if he had had the opportunity to live out his. My dad has said he grieves the loss everyday. He’s actually the one who called me on the morning of March 11 to remind me it was Dr. John Henry Jordan’s birthday. My dad celebrates it every year although he won’t tell me how (smile). I’d like to think I celebrate it in my own way too by researching my great-grandfather’s life, trying to leave no stone unturned in my quest to find out everything I can about the man. I think I can safely say he was thought of as “the man” in his day. I just want to make sure his legacy isn’t forgotten.
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03.04.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:37 am by Administrator
It all started when I saw a young African-American female walking around in a lab coat. Of course, I had to say something. Plus, as my family and friends know, I’ve never been one who has a problem talking to strangers. She was sweet and polite, but not a doctor or even a resident as I had assumed since we were in the dining area of UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Hospital, after all. As it turns out, she wasn’t even in medical school yet. To my surprise, she was a high school student! Needless to say, I was shocked. What was a high school student doing donning a white, lab coat and eating at a hospital cafeteria in the middle of a weekday? Shouldn’t she have been at school?
As it turns out, there were two tables full of her classmates in that cafeteria. As her teacher explained to me, it was all part of a program at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School where juniors interested in careers in medicine are allowed to spend time at a hospital once a week observing doctors. What an interesting program. I’d never heard of it. Of course, I didn’t even know the school existed for that matter. The teacher told me no studies had been done to determine the percentage of the school’s graduates who actually go on to become doctors, but the fact that those who did were able to get their start at such a young age intrigued me. I was so happy to see the table of African-American students as well as a table of Hispanic students, all sitting, eating their lunch, careful not to dirty their white coats. To think that some of them will, more than likely, choose to become physicians down the road gave me hope… hope that these future doctors will have a leg up on their competition as they witness medical procedures, learn about the ins and outs of medicine, and most of all, see the infinite possibilities of what they can become. I think my great-grandfather, Dr. John Henry Jordan, would highly approve.
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