AHC documents

Masonic Cancer Hospital 50th anniversary

By Erik Moore October 6, 2008
AHC documents, Facilities, Hospitals

The University of Minnesota and the Masonic Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Minnesota celebrated the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Masonic Cancer Hospital at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, October 4th.

Planning for the hospital and fund raising activities began in 1955 with the establishment of the Masonic Cancer Relief Committee of Minnesota. The Grand Lodge of Minnesota originally pledged to provide $500,000 for the construction of the hospital but quickly raised the 1 million dollars to fund the entire project.

Harold Diehl, dean of the College of Medical Sciences, described the effort to build the hospital as “one of the most humanitarian enterprises that has ever come to my attention.“

Look through the 1958 dedication booklet below to learn more about the establishment of the Masonic Memorial Cancer Hospital at the University of Minnesota.

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Rules and regulations

By Erik Moore September 23, 2008
AHC documents, Hospitals

Rule #1: Keep your Friday lunch open.

That is rule number one in the nineteen point Rules and Regulations of the University of Minnesota Hospitals approved October 11, 1961.

The Rules, approved by Dean Robert Howard and Ray Amberg, Director of University Hospitals, represent a carefully worded outline of expectations and duties for faculty physicians on staff at the University Hospitals.

The Rules, however, were not formulated without some criticism and changes.

After reviewing a draft version in the spring of 1961, Dr. John McKelvey, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology, objected to the provision in item number 2 that all patients seen at the University of Minnesota Medical Center be referred by a private physician. He noted that most staff and students’ wives are seen in Obstetrics without such a referral. His suggested substitution was accepted as added language to the rule allowing “Obstetrical patients without a referring physician.”

After the Rules were distributed, Dr. Richard DeWall submitted a complaint regarding item number 15 and the need for all staff to secure autopsies. Dr. DeWall responded by expressing his concern that the effort to secure autopsies would surpass their usefulness and that house staff, not the attending physician, could complete the task.

Also, note an early version of HIPAA in rule number eighteen.

Read the Rules and Regulations below and see you at noon on Friday.


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An institution of worldwide responsibility

By Erik Moore August 13, 2008
AHC documents, Medical school

As many of us spend our evenings watching the Olympic Games in China we have the opportunity to learn more about the country and people who are hosting this year’s games. Television, radio, newspaper and Internet news stories communicate the hardships and advances taking place in one of the world’s most fascinating places.

Twenty-nine years ago, a delegation from the University of Minnesota had the opportunity to learn more about China first hand. Sent by the University administration in support of the recently adopted mission statement of the Board of Regents that cast the U of M as “an institution of worldwide responsibility.” The delegation consisted of twelve members including representatives of the College of Liberal Arts, the Institute of Technology, U of M administration, and two from the Medical School: Dean Neal Gault and Professor Yang Wang. The delegation traveled to various locations during the three week trip in an effort to promote scholarly exchange.

In his own report chronicling the trip, Dean Gault recounted in vivid detail his impressions and thoughts on the hospitality of the officials who welcomed them as well as an account of the infrastructure and institutional challenges China faced as it emerged from the Cultural Revolution.

In one account in particular, Dean Gault captured both the enthusiasm of their hosts as well as the sentiment of friendship when visiting Jilin University.

Smiles, smile, smiles—a[n] ocean full of smiles. Never have I had such a surging within me to imbibe the exhilarating fellowship that was being extended to me; it was a powerful and moving experience that I trust I will never forget. Of course I know such a welcome is extended most visitors and although I think they were so pleased to have the University of Minnesota there I suspect others who come will get the same first class treatment. For the Chinese are very hospitable people who are very kind and gracious.

Dean Gault’s praise and excitement came from a man whose own experiences at Seoul National University and the Okinawa General Hospital made him quite qualified to make such an assessment.

Read the full text of Dean Gault’s Report of the University of Minnesota Delegation to the Peoples’ Republic of China, September 1-21, 1979 below. Page ten is missing from the report copy.

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100 years of service

By Erik Moore August 4, 2008
AHC documents, Medical school

The AHC and its health science programs are commonly thought to focus on the health of the individual and larger populations. However, one program focuses on serving the individual and their families long after traditional forms of health care are no longer applicable. The Mortuary Science Program educates students in behavioral and applied sciences in order to provide a service to grieving families and individuals planning for end of life decisions.

Uniquely housed within the University’s Medical School the Mortuary Science Program traces its origins back to the School of Embalming in 1908 and is marking its 100th anniversary this year.

From 1908 until 1927 the School of Embalming provided vocational training. During the 1930s the program changed to require a high school diploma and at least one year of college to receive state licensing through an expanded 36 week course overseen by the General Extension Division. In the 1950s the University offered the first associate degree in mortuary science and by 1968 the University offered a Bachelor of Science degree and transferred the administrative authority from Extension to the College of Medical Sciences.

The commemorative pamphlet below is from the Program’s 50th anniversary in 1958.

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Part of the process

By Erik Moore April 22, 2008
AHC documents, Hospitals, Processing

img0069.jpgWhen collecting the records of an active institution, material trickles in over time, sometimes out of sequence and almost always with the promise of “there’s more where that came from.”

There are also discreet sets of material within an institution related to a particular project or office that is no longer in operation. This material is easier to bookend with a beginning and an end, but often comes to the archives in batches over a period of time. Such is the case with the records of the Board of Governors, an institutional body charged with the management of the University Hospitals from 1975-1996.

In October 2006 I discussed the acquisition of an almost complete run of the BoG minutes. I then identified an existing collection of BoG material already located at University Archives. A year later, my good friends at the Wangensteen Historical Library opened up a locked filing cabinet and discovered nearly 12 boxes worth of additional material related to the Board of Governors’ activities.

For an institutional body that ceased to exist almost 12 years ago, the BoG had the ability to generate records faster than I could collect them.

Now, with the assistance of University Archives, all sets of material related to the Board of Governors are being organized as a single collection that will be available for research and administrative use.

Read the minutes from the first Board of Governors’ meeting held on January 15, 1975:

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Health sciences unit A

By Erik Moore December 10, 2007
AHC documents, Dentistry, Facilities

We will become the architects of health care delivery programs that bring to every citizen of the state the finest health care that society has seen.

img0056.jpgWith these words, Malcolm Moos, the tenth president of the University of Minnesota, celebrated the groundbreaking for Health Sciences Unit A in 1971. Unit A was the first in a series of interconnected facilities designed to integrate interprofessional education and optimize health care delivery. Based on commissioned studies and committee recommendations during the 1960s, health science education was brought together under the newly created administrative body of the Academic Health Center as well as physically in a complex of buildings, tunnels, and skyways.

Also during the groundbreaking ceremony, the Board of Regents charged the newly formed health sciences administration and faculty to remember

It is the Health Sciences facilities which we are here talking about today [that] will be implemented physically by a moral and intellectual commitment to see that all people of our state, those in the inner city and those in the out edges of the state, without regard to the particular circumstance in which they find themselves economically, will have available to them the degree and the facilities of health care which are adequate and appropriate to the dignity which each man has as a human being.

The building was completed in 1973 for a total cost of $45 million and was home to the School of Dentistry, teaching laboratories for basic sciences, and departments from the School of Public Health and the Medical School upon its opening.

In 1983 the University officially changed the name of Health Sciences Unit A to the Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower to commemorate President Moos’ commitment to the expansion of the health sciences on campus.

Read the full remarks made at the groundbreaking ceremony on April 1, 1971.

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Team approach to comprehensive health care

By Erik Moore November 2, 2007
AHC documents

In 1967, Dean Robert Howard of the College of Medical Sciences along with Dr. Erwin Schaffer, dean of the School of Dentistry, Lawrence Weaver, dean of the College of Pharmacy, and John Westerman, director of University Hospitals issued their program for the advancement of the health sciences at the University of Minnesota.

In order to meet the needs of health care delivery over the next twenty years, the program calls to double the enrollment in health science fields from 3,124 in 1966 to 6,900 by 1986.

The press release closely associates the growth of the health sciences with the University. The model proposed focused on tying together all of the health science and health care delivery programs in order to better educate and prepare the next generation of health professionals by stating:

Closer integration of all health science programs, in recognition of the “team approach” to comprehensive health care, was a major point. This has significant implications for the training of physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and members of the growing number of associated health professions. Closer interaction among research workers in all areas of the health sciences also is a part of the plan.

These same ideas continue today. The education model of interprofessional education continues to be a core function of the Academic Health Center.

Read the full press release dated April 14, 1967 below.

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Structure and governance

By Erik Moore October 23, 2007
AHC documents

img0050.jpgThe Regents of the University of Minnesota are strongly committed to building improvements in both the quality and availability of health care. In pursuing these goals, the University commissioned several studies that prompted a Regents’ decision to expand the scale and scope of the University’s programs in the Health Sciences.

To accomplish the objectives of this comprehensive program most effectively it became clear that major administrative reorganization of the Health Sciences was necessary.

So began President Malcolm Moos’ introduction of the July 10, 1970 resolution by the Board of Regents to reorganize health science education and care delivery at the University of Minnesota into the Academic Health Center.

The Health Sciences Mission Statement and Proposed Structure and Governance documents the Regents’ decision. The Mission Statement was prepared and adopted by the Regents and delivered at the July meeting by the Honorable Fred J. Hughes. In part, the Mission Statement reads

For ninety years the University of Minnesota Health Sciences have been providing leadership in professional education and research. Statewide, nationally and world-wide, Minnesota has won acclaim for outstanding achievements in health science education, and for outstanding quality in the delivery of health care. In undertaking major administrative reorganization of the Health Science units, the Regents proceed with confidence that Minnesota can continue to be a pacesetter for the nation as we strengthen our commitment to better serve the health needs of our Minnesota citizens. We are justly proud of our accomplishments in the health sciences in the State, but the question is not how far we have come but how far we have to go.

Click the above image to download and read the full report.

Health sciences planning report

By Erik Moore June 8, 2007
AHC documents, Facilities

As the AHC and the University of Minnesota continue to expand and develop within the confines of a limited space, take a look back to 1968 and see the perceived growth and expansion of the health sciences on campus.

The Planning Report was the result of a four-year effort sponsored by the Hill Family Foundation and overseen by the University Long Range Planning Committee for the Health Sciences.

There are many familiar landmarks today on campus that were merely architectural models at the time of the report’s publication. Similarly, there are a few proposed construction sites that never materialized.

As the campus changes today with the construction of the new stadium and the proposals for bringing light rail to the University, planning documents like this show that although change is a constant, there is usually a through line to its logic.

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A vision of the future (1973) for parking and traffic in the 1968 Health Sciences Planning Report

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