You can have a fantastic facility. You can have all the fancy-pants equipment in the world. But you still wouldn’t have much of a hospital if you didn’t have a dedicated staff to run the place.
Fortunately for residents of St. Tammany Parish, local physicians were just as eager to rally around the push to build a hospital on the Northshore as local civic activists were.
But who were those Day 1 docs at St. Tammany Parish Hospital?
Glad you asked.
Installment No. 14: The doctors are in
Today’s artifact: A 1954 newspaper clipping containing the original roster of local physicians making up St. Tammany Parish Hospital’s opening-day medical staff.
Why they are significant: The secret to seven decades of success at St. Tammany Health System really isn’t much of a secret.
In fact, health system leadership has long made it clear that its number one asset is now, and always has been, its dedicated team of talented, highly trained healthcare professionals.
But who were those physicians who staffed the hospital on opening day?
Thanks to an article published in the St. Tammany Farmer newspaper on Nov. 26, 1954 – and faithfully clipped and saved by the hospital’s unofficial first historian, Cecile Hebert – we know.
That historic first St. Tammany med staff included 17 community physicians, all members of the parish medical association. Given that they had their own practices to maintain, none were resident doctors, although all were on call.
All also deserve to be remembered for getting the whole thing started. Find their names below. (Those with an asterisk next to their name served at least one term as the hospital’s chief of staff.)
- Dr. H. E. Gautreaux*, St. Tammany Parish Coroner
- Dr. H. E. Cannon, Covington
- Dr. Paul Cashio, Lacombe
- Dr. H. T. Cook, Slidell
- Dr. G. W. Davis, Mandeville
- Dr. M. J. Duplantis*, Covington
- Dr. E. N. Haller, Madisonville
- Dr. T. J. Healy*, Covington
- Dr. R. R. Howard, Slidell
- Dr. J. H. Kety*, Covington
- Dr. R. F. Mulligan, Covington
- Dr. R. B. Paine, Mandeville
- Dr. M. L. Pittman*, Covington
- Dr. J. F. Polk, Slidell
- Dr. Francis M. Rodwig*, Covington
- Dr. F. R. Singleton, Slidell
- Dr. Wm. R. Sorum, Mandeville
Of course, the doctors didn’t do it alone. Aside from the litany of community activists who willed the hospital into being, Superintendent Elma K. Hughart oversaw a team of 15 nurses (the names of whom have been lost to history) on opening day.
Additionally, there was hospital administrator Harold R. Pittman, assisted by wife Dean Pittman, a dietician.
By the end of the hospital’s first year, it had grown to include 27 employees, including administrative personnel, technicians, nurses and maintenance workers.
Seven decades later, St. Tammany Health System is among the parish’s largest employers, with more than 2,800 employees – all of whom continue to work tirelessly to help maintain its status as the region’s premiere location for quality healthcare.
Do you have a St. Tammany Parish Hospital story or item to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at CommDept@stph.org.
Next week – Installment No. 15: Let us begin
Last week – Installment No. 13: It’s a bird! It’s a plane!