|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Half a Century Later…They're Still Giving Backby Kimberlee Barbour There was a lot happening in 1955. Disneyland opened. Juan Peron was kicked out of Argentina only three years after losing his beloved "Evita." The Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact and West Germany became a recognized country. Oh, and James Dean was in a little movie called Rebel Without a Cause, while Mary Martin soared across the Broadway stage as Peter Pan. In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, sparking the Civil Rights movement. Down in the steamy Gulf city of Houston, however, something else was taking shape. While it was not headline news at the time, what has evolved over the years has had a significant impact on many lives. Fifty years ago, only a decade after Baylor University Medical School moved from Dallas to Houston, the future Baylor College of Medicine initiated an Affiliated Residency Program in conjunction with four primary teaching hospitals and three cooperating hospitals in the Texas Medical Center. The endeavor made it possible for certain residency programs to be developed. Eighteen specialty training programs were begun at four primary teaching hospitals, including Jefferson Davis Hospital, Veterans Administration Hospital, Methodist Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital. Three cooperating hospitals, with programs only in certain specialties and without affiliations, included Hermann Hospital, M.D. Anderson Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital. Each residency review committee—one for each specialty training program—outlined the coursework, selected the residents and made hospital assignments for its respective program. Approved specialties in the Affiliated Hospitals Residency program included anesthesiology, dermatology, medicine, neurology, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, pathology, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, plastic surgery, psychiatry, radiology, surgery, thoracic surgery and urology. A lot has changed for the BCM Affiliated Hospitals Residency Program. At its inception, 169 students entered the program. Today? There are more than 1,000 medical residents. A Doctor with a Border: Laurance Nickey, M.D.
A long-time Director of the El Paso City/County Health District, now retired, Nickey also developed, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Air Control Board and the Mexican EPA, the first bi-national air monitoring study along the U.S.-Mexico Border and the first such study between any two nations in the world. Nickey also initiated the Improved Pregnancy Outcome Program that dramatically increased prenatal visits in El Paso. He also is responsible for creating the only local international Task Force on Cholera along the U.S.-Mexico Border with widespread community involvement. Nickey's childhood doctor is the one to thank. Dr. Craig Branch, Sr., let him listen on his stethoscope to hear his mother's heart when Nickey was just four years old. He never thought twice about becoming anything else but a pediatrician. Nickey graduated from The University of Texas at El Paso in 1951 and went on to graduate from Baylor University Medical School in 1955. After completing a rotating internship at Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston in 1956 and completing his residency from the Affiliated Residency Program at Baylor in 1958, Nickey served two years in the military as a pediatrician.
"I was given a couple of choices as to where to practice and one of them was William Beaumont General Hospital located in El Paso," Nickey said. "It was one of the easiest choices I ever made." He and his wife, Joan, moved back home the latter part of 1959. Five generations of his family have lived in El Paso. Nickey was honorably discharged from the military in 1960 and opened a private pediatric practice with two partners in El Paso. He has "retired" three times, once from private practice in Dec. 1982, then 12 years later from the El Paso City/County Health District. Most recently Nickey stepped down from his post as President and Chief Executive Officer of Paso Del Norte Health Foundation where he was named a lifetime advisor. It's not Greek to Her: Elizabeth Batmanis, M.D.
Her parents were delighted when she told them she wanted to become a doctor. Her mother told her they didn't "come all the way to the United States from Greece for their kids not to go to school." "I knew I could make it through the classes," Batmanis said. "We went to Greek School every day after going to regular school. We were used to the long classroom hours." As one of only four women in her class, she was also used to being teased. During her residency at Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital, one male doctor asked her how medical school was going to help her when she got married. "Another doctor got his comeuppance when both his daughters decided to become physicians," said Batmanis. Right after she finished her residency at Baylor, a new blood exchange transfusion procedure came out for mothers with Rh incompatibility and few other physicians at TCH knew how to do the procedure. She jokes that her 'claim to fame' didn't last very long because of the introduction of a new vaccine, RhoGAM shortly thereafter. "I lost count at about 125 because everyone was calling on me to do the transfusions," she said. Batmanis wound up practicing pediatrics 42 years in the Montrose area, served as president of the Houston Pediatric Association and attended grand rounds lectures at Texas Children's Hospital every Friday for 50 years. Perhaps her biggest "claim to fame" was that she loved to learn. Even more, she thrilled at outdoing the 'boys' in her class. |
Patient CareResearchThe Next Step in Cancer Research EducationHalf a Century Later... They're Still Giving Back Community ServiceFrom Despair to Hope: BCM Responds to Katrina Alumni & DevelopmentThe Vietnamese Cowboy and the Race Car Driver A Fortunate Life... A Fight Against Cancer College NewsA New Door for the East Campus New Museum to Showcase Maestro of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine: Making a Difference in the Community
|
||
Volume 1, Issue 3, Fall 2005 |
|||
 |
|
BCM Home | BCM Intranet | Privacy Notices | Contact BCM | BCM Site Map © 2005-9 Baylor College of Medicine® |
|
| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
"El Conquistador" is the highest award El Paso bestows on a citizen, and Dr. Laurance Nickey has earned the title twice for his accomplishments in private practice and public health. 
For being accepted to Baylor University Medical School in 1955 after graduating from Rice University, Elizabeth Batmanis received a trip to Greece from her parents. Upon graduation from Baylor, she got a brand new, four-door Ford. But for becoming a physician, she says she got a lifetime full of memories and satisfaction of being one of only four women in her class of 87 people.