 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
Nostalgia
2006-05-01 16:01:00
Do you remember?
ANSWER: Do you remember when you were really feeling bad…you didn’t automatically pack up your suitcase and run to the emergency room. Instead---you would call your family doctor. I really do not know who they kept up with their office calls but for severe cases if you were a patient…and you had called with something that needed immediate care…your own doctor would show up on your front porch with his little black bag in his hand. He would come into your room and you would immediately feel a little better just due to his personal presence and his interest in you…enough for him to make a house call. Nearly all doctors of this time…and in this era of the early days would make house calls. They carried so much in that black bag…there was a stethoscope, the old familiar tongue depressant, cotton and alcohol for sterilization before an injection—a scalpel, and numerous pills…just to get you by until your prescription arrived. Perhaps the situation called for hospitalization…then you would be taken to the medical facility of the doctor’s choice. When your family would arrive there was always…always…the pungent odors in the old hospitals of ether. That was the major anesthetic and it had an odor that stayed around and totally invaded the entire hospital facilities. Operating rooms were generally on the roof of the building…I don’t know whether this is exactly correct but I was told that in those days when light fixtures are not as intense as now…it provided more light. Surgery and procedures were more crude than now, but they saved many lives. The family doctor I remember was in a complex of buildings on east Harry…The corner was occupied by Watts Drug store…that had a pharmacy…sundries and a fountain, then the doctors office, Dr. Sol Edgerton, then the dentist office and I probably do not have the correct spelling but I think his name was Dr. Reester…He also directed the neighborhood band concert that happened weekly at Lincoln Park Bandstand. This was a great gathering for the neighborhood residents. The family doctor of the past is pretty much a historical event. There are still a few doctors who make house calls…but even the neighborhood medical complexes with doctors, dentists and a pharmacy are nearly gone. Time changes…But I would not want to rely on the medicines and the treatments of the past…would you?
