University Daily Kansan
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KU Med Center Rated With Best
By Joyce Neaderhiser
Only seven other states educate a larger percentage of their population to be physicians than Kansas. The University of Kansas Medical Center is one of 84 medical schools in the United States and educates about 1.25 per cent of the physicians graduated annually. According to Dr. C. Arden Miller, dean of the School of Medicine and director of the Medical Center, KU is doing its share, no more, no less, in educating the physicians of our nation.
Our School of Medicine is facing the same problem that all phases of public life are facing—the constant need for expansion because of our growing population. Almost daily new plans are made to carry out the educational, medical research or investigation, and health care services of the Medical Center.
It was 102 years ago, in the 1862 act of the Kansas legislature establishing the University of Kansas, that a school of medicine was first contemplated. However, it was not until 1505 that a full four-year medical course was offered. A donation of land by the late Dr. Simeon B. Bell, in memory of his wife, made possible the union of two Kansas City medical colleges into a four-year medical program under the direction of the University of Kansas. It was located at 311 Seminary Street, Rosedale, Kan. The need for further growth prompted contributions from alumni and friends and appropriations by the City of Rosedale which made possible the location of the Medical Center on its current site, 39th and Rainbow, Kansas City, Kan. The name "University of Kansas Medical Center" was officially adopted in 1947 to express the manifold activities of the institution.
Many construction and expansion plans have been made. The outpatient building has just been doubled and named Sudler Hall. Sudler Hall will have an open house sometime this month. Construction is expected to start in several weeks on a non-sectarian chapel donated by Helen Foresman Spencer in memory of her husband, the late Kenneth Aldred Spencer, founder of the Spencer Chemical Company. And in
several months construction is expected to begin on the new D-Laboratory Building.
To accommodate the eight to ten thousand persons who are expected to populate the community in twenty years (double the current population), expansion is planned in two ten-year programs. Construction plans include: addition of two floors to the Children's Rehabilitation Unit, and a new wing on its north side; extension of the personnel cafeteria; extension to double the size of the Student Center for more housing for medical students and more facilities for post-graduate medical education; renovation of buildings A, B, E, the Clinic, and Hinch Hall; construction of additional floors to the library building and G building; construction of a recreation center for patients and students; and extension of the present F building west toward Rainbow, to double the size of this building used primarily for hospitalized patients.
Further development is planned in the area north of 39th Street. The only Medical Center buildings now on this tract are the Breidental Laboratory (Communicable Disease Center) and a temporary maintenance building. The proposal includes a pedestrian overpass across 39th to connect this portion of the campus to the main campus. Anticipated building needs north of 39th, following the removal of present residences, include: multi-level parking garage; graduate study and research center; extension center; new power plant and laundry; maintenance building; water storage; and parking lots.
The vast construction and expansion programs make possible extended research and medical care as well as medical education. Three million dollars annually is spent on research. Yet, none of this three million dollars comes from tax sources. It is financed entirely by grants. This money goes for approximately 175 research projects in cancer, heart disease, the problems of aging, and many other fields. It is possible for students to participate in research at all levels of their medical education. In fact the highest award given to a student is the Haden medal, given every spring for original research. Fellowships and stipends for research provide employment for students in the summer months.
Health care has been a consideration of the Medical School since its opening. It was originally decided to locate the school in Kansas City, geographically separated from the rest of the campus, so that it would be accessible to larger numbers of people. A 600-bed hospital serves 19,000 patients annually. Each year an additional 200,000 persons are out-patients of the Kansas University Medical Center clinic.
This fall heralded the beginning of a new type of health care, a home care unit, comprised of 14 medical and paramedical personnel, plus a number of students. Its goal is twofold: to provide coordinated home care for the chronically ill and to give training opportunities to students in medical and paramedical disciplines. The unit is sponsored by a $183,000 three-year grant that is calculated to arouse interest in general practice. It offers medical students an early clinical demonstration that is vital. In an age when it is generally agreed that patients may be given best care in a doctor's office, KUMC administrators recently have pointed out the importance of certain patients being seen in their home environment—either by the physician or his nurse—to insure fuller understanding of the health problem, complicated perhaps by poverty and neglect.
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