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Training at the Chicago Maternity Center
Alumnus Tim Hunter, MD ’68, sent Ward Rounds journal entries from his training days as a fourth-year medical student, serving for two weeks at the Chicago Maternity Center. Here we share some excerpts and invite you to tell us about your experiences.
In addition, alumnus David Kerns, MD ’68, is writing a book about his experiences at the CMC that is due out in 2013. “Fortnight on Maxwell Street: A Novel“ is “true fiction,” a medical student’s trial-by-fire delivering babies in Chicago’s housing projects and tenements in the early spring of 1968. It is a tale of fear and courage, choice and consequence, set amid extreme poverty and racial tension in the days immediately preceding and following the assassination of Martin Luther King.
The Chicago Maternity Center, January 1968
January 14, 1968
Getting off the “L” at Halsted was very weird – nobody around, fresh snow by the Circle campus, and a sinking feeling in my stomach. At 9:05 I arrived at the Maternity Center, a dump of a building at the corner of Newbury and Maxwell. Dr. Jack Casper oriented us as to our duties and then turned us over to Jane, a nurse who talked for 2-3 hours on the setups and equipment we would be using. About this time, I volunteered to go out with Jack and Betty Lou for a call concerning a para XIII, gr XII who was bleeding.
Her home was 9000 South and 3000 East in a marginal neighborhood. She had only a small room to herself… What an incredible experience. She had 12 children in foster homes, her husband was in Mexico (won’t return), goofy neighbors coming in asking for TV Guides. Finally, we determined she was not in labor, but we had the police take her to Cook County, since she was evidently bleeding at least a small amount.
Fourth-year medical students Gary London, David Kerns, and Al Robbins
January 17, 1968
Wednesday morning showed up for clinic. Dr. Orion really raked me with questions. The afternoon was fun. Left at 4 pm for an unregistered case at 1300 North and 1300 West. Appalachians – the husband who had severe amblyopia of the left eye met us and was very excited. The woman was having mild contractions every 3 to 4 minutes cervix post and undilated. Donna and Tina were along. After one hour, I gave the patient two grains of Phenobarbital. Then examined her an hour later. She was the same. It turns out she was scheduled to go to Wesley anyway, but the husband was broke and also didn’t think he had the time to take her there. We declared a false labor and instructed the husband and his mother to take his wife to Wesley via the police if any trouble or pains came up.
Came back to the Center at 8:30 pm. Donna and Karen fixed me an egg sandwich and fried potatoes. Very good. Watched Johnson’s State of the Union Message. Argued about Vietnam for two hours with Dave Kerns. Went to bed.
The Booth House is where fourth-year medical students lived during their stints at the Chicago Maternity Center, 1968.
January 20, 1968
Got called at 3:50 this morning. Went out to see Mrs. Bootes – 26 year old gr III, para ? carrying twins transverse lie plus double footling breech. At first strong contractions every 2 to 3 minutes. Cervix undilated. Jack said to watch her for awhile and then give her Phenobarbital to rest her. Must be careful with this case – could lose the breech. She finally fell asleep without the Phenobarbital. We declared a false labor and left at 6:30 am. Later today Al Robbins went out with her and spent 5 to 6 hours before another false labor was declared.
Bob and I went over to the Center for dinner -mass confusion: dinner closed, many cases. Bob went out to see the primagravida again. (Third time today she has been seen.) Right now watching Jackie Gleason. First up waiting for a call.
A group of medical students who were doing a rotation at Evanston Memorial Hospital, circa 1968. Standing: Edward Ochsner, Theodore Ning, Jr, David Feldman, and Michael King. Seated middle row: Tim Hunter, William Burkhardt, III, and Jon Smucker. Front row: Gary London, Neil Stone, Arthur Feldman, and Raymond Hopkins.
January 22, 1968
I am now second up. Al has had three hours sleep in the last 48 hours – he is first up. So far, I have had only four deliveries, Al 10. He has had all the good cases, but has had to work for them. I will shower and go to bed. Got called at 2 am. Went out with Tina and a student nurse – a MUD on South side. The cord had snapped but no bleeding from the mother or the fetus. Child was 1.5 months premature but weighed 5.5 pounds. Had a tight foreskin. Good cry. No other problems.
Preston
Check out Oct. 3, 1964 when I was mugged in the projects at Western and the Eisenhower.
john
Clas of ’65. The highlight of my NUMS experience. The son of an ob-gyn they wanted to give me the tough deliveries. My only prior experience was delivering 2 consec. sets of twins at CC just the week before starting school while visiting my intern brother.
At our class 40 yr reunion heard that one of my classmates shot and killed someone trying to break into his car. Nothing was ever said about it before
Pat
RN@ the Chicago Maternity Center for 4 months Jan-may 1965 Great experience.
Pat
I was remembering the all night case where after mom was delivered and we were on our way back to the center, we stopped to have breakfast at a diner. We left the white placenta box(filled with bloody fresh placenta and cord and a layer of dry ice) in the car and took the medical bag with us. Well, after our breakfast we came out to a broken-into car and a missing placenta! We were in trouble as 10 dollars was given for each placenta by a hormone drug co. After returning to the center, the police called and said they found our box in the garbage. Imagine what the robber thought when he opened up this foggy, bloody container.
Michele Weber
Don Amsler (NUMS class of 1962) I was a Wesley OB/GYN resident at the Chicago Maternity Center in the middle 1960′s. Dr. Beatrice Tucker and Dr. Alwin Gatlin were on staff at the CMC during the time that I was there, and Dr. George Gardner was Chairman of the OB/GYN Department at the medical school. Dr. Tucker was renowned for driving the civilian version of a Checker cab . . . and “parking by ear.” On several occasions while visiting patients “on the district” we had our cars vandalized, dealt with the irate parents of teenage parturients, and of course had to contend with the ferocious Chicago weather. In support for the teams of medical students, the OB/GYN residents from Wesley Memorial Hospital went out and delivered “the tough cases” at home, on the kitchen table, occasionally with spinal anesthesia . . . using mid-forceps, breech extraction, etc. We carried big black bags with all the tools needed for operative obstetric intervention . . . everything short of Cesarean section. I recall that on one occasion, Dr. Beatrice Tucker administered drip ether anesthesia to a patient while I did an internal version and breech extraction on the second twin . . . stuff that’s unheard of nowadays, even in a hospital setting.
But wait . . . there’s more. I have attached a dozen images, scanned from slides, showing the old Maternity Center exterior, interior, the Maxwell Street Market, and the Docs involved at CMC during the summer of 1965. http://www.flickr.com/photos/feinbergschoolofmedicine/sets/72157631859127569/ It’s really astonishing that these old Kodachrome slides . . . now 47 years old . . . have retained their color and fidelity. FYI the physicians in the images are (a) #10 Dr. Richard Luke (b) #11 from left to right . . . Dr. Jerome Gundersen, Dr. Preston Dilts, and Dr. Alwin Gatlin (c) Dr. James Smith.
Dudley
I spent my two weeks at the Maternity Center in 1946. I had my car parked in front of the Center each night. One night my foglights were stolen off the car. That day I was having lunch at the Jewish deli on Halstead street (I can’t remember it’s name), and I mentioned to a local sitting next to me about the theft. He said, “You mean to tell me that someone stole something from a doctor’s car at the Center?” I confirmed it. The next day a package containing my foglights arrived at the Center.
Another aside: We were told to always have our stethoscopes hanging from our pocket so that we would not be accosted in one of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods.
george m burns '61
had an old broken down ’52 Chev when I made the CMC deliveries – was told several times that the only thing that saved the car (and probably my ass) was the CMC sticker on the windshield
for some strange and undefined reason several of the delivered males ended up with the name Loyal, perhaps with Davis as middle name!
george m burns '61
great memories
james
I was a jr resident at cmc in 1959 and a Wesley resident at the center in 61/62. We had the requisite dead, naked guy in the Maxwell St. garbage can. We had the guy who came in every year with a horrendous wound inflicted by his girlfriend. ‘I loves dat woman.’ We were attacked by a group of local teenagers with bottles and fought them off and ran. My wife chastised me for coming home all bloody until I informed her it was my blood. Did Durshen’s incisions 3 times in one day under Dr. Tucker’s supervision. Did destructive operations under spinal and ether. Delivered in flooded basement by candlelight. Had a patient die during a seizure under the post office on the Dan Ryan and did a post-mortem cs with a live baby. Much more untold.
Bob B '65
A memorable time in medical school: delivering a teenaged primip on her parents kitchen table in the shadow of the Silver Streak rollercoaster at Riverview Park; another in a near southside basement with a dirt floor, rooms divided by sheets hung in makeshift doorways; and a well experienced multip who squatted at the last minute to set a record short delivery time. Most memorable was visiting the eighth floor of a southside high rise. Wearing our whites, we rasied our black bags over our heads to announce who we were. The elevator, as usual for the building we understood, was not working. Apartment walls punched with holes, doors all on broken hinges. Taking a break on the entry porch, we could hardly hear each other because of the din from the overcrowded basketball court below.
As much (or more) of a social education as a medical one.
Richard
NUMS Class’55 and Ob resident at CMC 1959
I was fortunate enough to have delivered 2 sets of triplets In the home .
While a resident…I remember sitting the primips up on the edge of the kitchen
Table to give a low saddle block…Dr. Tucker came out once to confirm my clinicle pelvimetry to assure a safe delivery of a primiparous breach.
There are many stories, too numerous to record here.
Dr.Bert Johnson, has been collecting CMC stories for some time.
Be sure to contact him.
Rds
Ruth Ann Crystal
Although I did not go to NUMS, I have been studying the Chicago Maternity Center for 14 years on and off. I first learned about the CMC from Bert Johnson- he was one of my Gyn professors at Stanford and he had done his residency at the CMC in 1953. Bert used to tell us wild stories of kitchen table deliveries in 1950s Chicago while we were operating with him in our residency at Stanford.
PLEASE see my trailer film at http://www.CatchTheBaby.com
Over the years, I have interviewed or spoken to Dr. Sheehan (above), Dr. Bert Johnson, Dr. Tom Fiene, Dr. Davis Baldwin, Dr. Betty Hahneman, Dr. Beatrice Tucker’s son Tom Tucker, Dr. David Kerns, Cliff Raisbeck, Lester Dragstedt, Grandon Tolstedt, Dr. Mel Gerbie and Dr. Louis Keith. In addition, I visited the Chicago Maternity Center archives in 11/2009. Ron Sims from NUMS’s library has helped me as well.
I have had professional camera crews video several of these interviews and I wanted to make it into a documentary film but I couldn’t find funding so I didn’t make the film yet. I have tried and will continue to try to find funding.
I am an Ob/Gyn doctor in solo private practice in Palo Alto, California. Please contact me at ruthcrystal@yahoo.com if you have any ideas or things to add. Thank you!
Ruth Ann Crystal, MD
Ruth Ann Crystal
P.S. I also would like to mention Tim Hunter and his great pictures above. I spoke to him a few years back as well
Ted
As a senior medical student, Class of ’68, this was the highlight of medical school. I began gathering more experiences with the Riots of ’68, serving in Vietnam and now have a career as an amateur sociologist working in developing countries for the past 35 years.
Knight
The winter of 1938 was a cold one, and the rolled-up newspapers that were supposed to keep the gore from inundating the miserable homes of my 12 Maternity Center deliveries were not always 100% effective. When the nurse and I left the shivering families, mother was already thinking about getting up and making dinner.
So a few weeks later on my OB rotation I heard the professor lay out his usual post-partum orders: complete bed rest for a week, then hang your feet over the edge of the bed for a few days and so on. “What about the Maternity Center mothers?” I asked. “They are more primitive,” said he, “and besides, they will suffer later with, what was it? “fallen uterus,” I think.
A year or so later I was a County intern when the first post-partum lady to get out of bed on the first postpartum day in a Chicago hospital staggered down the corridor supported by two attendants. We all – alerted to the show – waited for her to eviscerate – or something. But of course not only did nothing happen but she went home sooner and happier. And soon thereafter even the Professor let his ladies drag their feet on the first day. Such was medical sociology in the late Depression.
Knight Aldrich “40
Louis '00, '41, '69
This CMC blog sparked my interest as three members of my family rotated through the CMC between 1898-99 and 1969. My father, Louis Fazen, Jr clearly remembers his father (Louis Fazen, Sr.) telling tales of his CMC experience in the late 1890s. At that time deliveries were carried out at the homes in the area by 3rd and 4th year medical students along with delivery nurses. Since most of the deliveries were conducted at home, my grandfather would walk with a bag of instruments to the family dwelling and the nurse carrying her supplies would pace herself to remain as much as a block behind. Although rubber gloves were probably not used, the students were supposed to wash their hands. Telephone communication was spotty but often a party line could be utilized for complications. When my father, (L. Fazen, Jr) served this two weeks at the CMC in 1941, he was able to find his father’s entries for previous deliveries in the large leather-bound delivery book. Although my dad drove his car to the center and here there were no security issues at that time, most of the students took the “L” to Maxwell and Sedgewick. In those days the majority of patients delivered on site at the CMC. He recalls only a rare trip into the tenements to assist a home delivery. I believe this live-in approach to delivery is more common with the Booth-Salvation Army homes for unwed mothers. During my time in the late ’60′s the trend was back to home delivery.
Speaking to my father in some detail we agreed we were not well prepared for the rotation at the CMC and we depended mightily on the nurses who were more like midwives in my time. They set everything up and cleaned up and actually directed most aspects of the home delivery. Many of us remember all those coke bottles rolled into the blanket of news paper which provided the “sterile” bedding for delivery. I can also recall an occasional kitchen table delivery with two neighbors holding the mom’s legs in place of stirrups. Most of the deliveries as I recall were either very young or very poor or very recent emigrants to the area. Often the mothers would explain they did not have 4 or 5 days to spend at Cook County because they had to make dinner for the family after the delivery. My dad and I agreed that the care we delivered may not have measured up to the hospital-based OB service, but it was superior to an unattended delivery for mother and baby. Many of my patients had at least one or two prenatal visits to the CMC and thus some information was available. I also remember the big log book but I was not able to find the books dating back to my father’s time at CMC.
CMC was a fascinating experience over three generations at Northwestern.
Louis Fazen, III
Claudia
My sister was the first baby delivered by CMC on February 14th, 1951. She was given a silver spoon, and an article appeared in a Chicago newspaper. She was named Josephine Valentine. I would love to be able to provide her with a copy of that newspaper article, and possibly some information about the nurses and interns that performed her delivery. I would appreciate any information provided.