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    Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care
    Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care
    Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care
    Ebook162 pages35 minutes

    Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care

    By Guthrie Archives

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    About this ebook

    When Dr. Donald Guthrie arrived in Sayre in 1910, it was home to the third-largest railroad repair shop in the world. A small hospital, the first in the region, had opened 25 years earlier to care for those injured in this dangerous work. Fresh from surgical training at the Mayo Clinic, Guthrie brought with him a vision and the energy and charisma to make his dream a reality. He started Guthrie Clinic, one of the oldest multispecialty group practices in the nation, and established Robert Packer Hospital as the region's premier destination for hospital care. Guthrie's reputation as a surgeon grew, and the hospital cared for leaders of business, government, and society alongside the townspeople. Through two world wars, the Great Depression, and a devastating fire-in which no lives were lost-nothing slowed Guthrie's vision, and it has become a lasting legacy. More than 200 photographs tell the remarkable story of the transformation of a small rural hospital into an award-winning integrated health care system.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateFeb 22, 2010
    ISBN9781439623541
    Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care
    Author

    Guthrie Archives

    The Guthrie Archives is comprised of a small group of volunteers and staff whose dedication to documenting and sharing Guthrie's history made Guthrie: 100 Years of Health Care possible.

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      Guthrie - Guthrie Archives

      text.

      INTRODUCTION

      Today it is hard to imagine what life was like in 1910 in rural America. Most small towns had no paved roads, homes were lit with gaslights, people traveled on foot or via horse-drawn carriages, and it often took days to get to the next town.

      At the beginning of the 20th century, Sayre was home to the bustling Lehigh Valley Railroad rail yard. More than 70 acres of buildings, or shops, were used to build or repair train engines and railcars. Employing several thousand men, the rail yard was a sea of activity as work was done on top of and underneath these large and heavy iron machines. The work was dangerous, injuries were common, and the medical care provided through the dispensary was quite primitive.

      Judge Asa Packer owned the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He was an entrepreneur who had interests in many businesses, including railroads, coal mining, and water navigation systems. His son, Robert Asa Packer, took over as president of the railroad after his father’s death and moved to Sayre. He built a lavishly appointed mansion on a small rise overseeing the shops. Following Robert Asa Packer’s death, community leaders approached his sister, Mary Packer Cummings, who had inherited the mansion, to ask if they might use it for a hospital. She agreed, asking that the hospital be named after her brother.

      Although better equipped than the rail yard dispensary, in those days people were somewhat distrustful of hospitals, and most medical and nursing care—even surgery—was provided at home. At first the hospital grew slowly, and its initial patients were rail yard workers who paid one day’s salary in return for one year of hospital care, should they need it. By the beginning of the 20th century, the hospital and its staff had gained the acceptance and confidence of the community, and the hospital was starting to make a name for itself for excellent patient care. In addition to rail yard workers, townspeople and others from around the area were now using its services.

      Into this setting came a well-trained and ambitious young surgeon. Dr. Donald Guthrie, fresh from a three-year surgical internship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, could have undoubtedly started his career anywhere he chose. His family lived in Wilkes-Barre, and his father was also a physician. However, Dr. Guthrie was so influenced by the way in which medicine was practiced in the rural setting of Mayo Clinic that he chose to come to Sayre.

      Dr. Guthrie believed that people living in the country had as much right to excellent medical care as those living in large cities. His vision was to create a multi-specialty group practice of physicians whose expertise in many areas of medicine and surgery could be focused on providing the best treatments possible. Under Dr. Guthrie’s leadership, Robert Packer Hospital and the clinic that bore his name became synonymous with high-quality care.

      Just a few years after coming to Sayre, Dr. Guthrie started to add specialists to his staff, and by 1920, he brought 11 physicians to Sayre. In 1928, the four-story Guthrie Clinic building opened with 27 physicians. Fundamental to Dr. Guthrie’s approach to providing excellent patient care was his belief that education and research were as important to patients’ outcomes as bedside care. Just as he received training under the watchful eyes of Drs. William and Charles H. Mayo, so too did two successive generations of Mayo surgeons who were sent to Robert Packer Hospital to train under Dr. Guthrie.

      In addition to welcoming interns to train under him and his staff, Dr. Guthrie was very supportive of the hospital’s nurses and school of nursing. He led a successful community drive to build a new nurses’ residence, which opened in 1926. This was only the first of many building projects undertaken during Dr. Guthrie’s tenure. His dedication to his patients’ welfare, skills as a surgeon, and personal drive and charisma made him a very successful

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