SECTION TWO
YEARS OF PREPARATION
CHAPTER EIGHT
UNIVERSITY YEARS AND INTERNSHIP
Late in September of 1921, I was on my way to the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. My wardrobe was very limited. Aside from under garments, I had two or three shirts, my only best suit and a new pair of cheap pants. Billy Stevenson, a somewhat handicapped man who operated a small store in Fair Ground, gave me a presentable but used overcoat to take with me.
At the railroad station in Courtland, I was joined by another young man whose home was in Guysboro, Ontario. He too was on his way to the University of Toronto for the first time. His last name was Graham, and he was starting his first year in Engineering. We had planned to room together at the University and we did so during the first year.
When I registered at the Office of the Medical School, the day after arriving in Toronto, I learned that I was not really qualified to undertake the study of medicine. During the three years I was farming, after finishing high school, the entrance requirements for the study of medicine had been raised from Junior Matriculation to Senior Matriculation. However, in reviewing the applications, somehow special consideration was given to me. I was told that my age was a factor, and apparently there was a consensus of opinion that I should be given a chance.
So I found myself at the University and entered in the first year of the new six-year course which had been instituted for medical students. It was designed to provide the desirable premedical subjects as well as those specifically required for the preparation of doctors.
When I started classes I found that I was ill-prepared to study medicine. I had not been studying for three years and was out of the habit of studying. Also I found that instruction was proceeding on the assumption that the students had experienced an additional year of high school preparation which I had not had. Furthermore I found that a fair number of my fellow students were undertaking the medical courses with already a B.A. degree behind them.
So, in order to even survive the instruction being given in classes, I had to acquire and study high school books more advanced than I had ever seen. This I did, and studied intensively by myself, in addition to attending all classes. By doing so, I found that, by Christmas, I had caught up to my fellow students. There were two factors involved here. One was my hard work, and the other was my observation that, during this same interval, most of my fellow students were loafing along and not giving much attention to their education. They were too much involved in their new university and social experiences.
My familiarity with the text books paid off handsomely at the physics examination just before Christmas. The professor gave the class a paper with ten questions on it, wherein each question, if correctly answered, was awarded ten points. In order
61
to give the students an additional chance to show what they knew, he added a bonus question, also worth ten points. Furthermore, he told us, before the examination, that we could bring our text books to the examination with us and refer to them if we wanted to. I took my physics book along, as many others did. I was so familiar with the book, because of my intensive and recent studies, that I had no difficulty with any of the questions and knew right away where to find them in the book. The result was that I answered every question readily and correctly and also took time to answer the bonus question. When my marked paper was returned to me, it bore the credits of 110%.
Early in the first year at the university, there were political jockeyings among the students for election of the officers in the class; that is, Class President, Class Secretary, etc. I took no interest in it, but noted later that the knowledgeable people who were elected were repeaters; that is, students who had failed to pass their first year of medicine the previous year and were therefore repeating their first year.
In comparison with other students in my first year at the university, I was poorly dressed and not asked to join any of the school fraternities until quite late in the year. Even then I declined the invitation because I could not afford the expenditure of either time or money which would be necessary
My clothing during the first year included white shirts with a white detachable collar. The collar was made of celluloid which I kept clean by washing it in soap and water, and drying it with a towel. My underwear and socks I washed myself and dried them in my room. My white shirts I also washed and pressed myself. Occasionally, to really refresh my shirts I took them to a Chinese laundry, where they were done cheaply.
Mr. Graham and I lived in a rented room on the third floor of an old but respectable house within walking distance of the university. For breakfast we always had freshly cooked rolled oats and milk and a few things which we prepared for ourselves. In the evenings we had a more substantial meal in our room, where we had a gas burner to cook on. We peeled and cooked potatoes and other vegetables, and had some fruit. Occasionally my mother sent me a roasted chicken which we enjoyed very much. We often had cheese and eggs. Very rarely, we ate supper at an inexpensive Chinese restaurant nearby.
At noon my mid-day snack was always the same. At a small store I bought one banana and a half pint of milk which I drank from the carton. This was the cheapest way of getting some nourishment. This austere pattern of living persisted throughout my first year at university.
Of course I had to buy all of my textbooks, because the university did not supply us with any. Fortunately there was a very good book store near the medical school which carried a good stock of both new and used books. Because of my limited finances, all the books I bought were used, but up-to-date.
The scheduled classes in the Medical School, consisting of both lectures and laboratory sessions, were very heavy. Later I learned that they demanded about three times as many hours per week as for the B.A. courses.
In my first year the subjects dealt with were: Biology, Mammalian Anatomy, Practical Biology, Inorganic Chemistry, Practical Chemistry, Physics, Practical Physics, English Expression, and an optional subject, which in my case was French.
62
In spite of the heavy schedule, throughout all of my university years, as well as at high school, I clung to my early resolution never to study on Sunday. Two other resolutions, made at the same time early in life, were never to use tobacco, either to smoke or chew, and never to drink alcoholic beverages. These vows I have kept throughout my lifetime.
During the first year my introduction to anatomy began with dissection of the skate, which was a flat fish and easy to work on. Later it was dissection of a rabbit.
In my second year my study of anatomy began in earnest. For dissection of the human body, two of us were assigned to one body and each continued to work on his own side of the body. Of course, when working on areas where only one organ was involved, we worked together. Our subject was a black woman. The bodies were preserved in some kind of fluid in large tanks. The odor of the preservative was quite powerful, but it kept the bodies from deteriorating.
I have already detailed the first year, so here I will continue with the second.
Second Year Session, 1922-1923
| 1) | Anatomy Practical Anatomy | |
| 2) | Histology Embryology | |
| 3) | Organic Chemistry | |
| 4) | Chemistry | |
| 5) | French (my option) |
Third Year Session, 1923-1924
| 1) | Physiology including Psychology | |
| 2) | Biochemistry | |
| 3) | Anatomy | |
| 4) | Bacteriology | |
| 5) | Physiology (my option) | |
| 6) | Anatomy (my option) |
Fourth Year Session, 1924-1925
| 1) | Medicine Clinical Medicine | |
| 2) | Surgery Clinical Surgery | |
| 3) | Pathology Practical Pathology | |
| 4) | Pathological Chemistry | |
| 5) | Pharmacology | |
| 6) | Physiology (my option) |
63
Fifth Year Session, 1925-1926
| 1) | Medicine Clinical Medicine Paediatrics Infectious Diseases | |
| 2) | Surgery Clinical Surgery | |
| 3) | Obstetrics and Gynaecology | |
| 4) | Ophthalmology | |
| 5) | Oto-Laryngology | |
| 6) | Psychiatry | |
| 7) | Therapeutics | |
| 8) | Pathology | |
| 9) | Pathological Chemistry | |
| 10) | Hygiene and Preventive Medicine | |
| 11) | Medical Jurisprudence | |
| 12) | Toxicology | |
| 13) | Anatomy (my option) |
The Six Year Session, 1926-1927
This year's work was almost entirely spent in getting practical experience. My record showed that I -
| 1) Conducted at least twenty labors under the supervision of the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. | |
| 2) Acquired proficiency in vaccination under the supervision of the Head of the Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. | |
| 3) Attended fifteen autopsies under the supervision of the Department of Pathology. | |
| 4) Administered anaesthetics on six occasions under the supervision of the Head of the Department of Therapeutics. |
While I admit that I am not much interested in poetry, nevertheless, over the years I have saved a number of clippings which have meant much to me, because of the sentiments contained therein. I am recording two of them here because they may give the reader some insight into the kind of person that I am.
| 1) | Written by Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
"Good-bye" I said to my conscience, |
64
| And I cried, "Come back, my conscience, I long to see thy face!" But conscience cried, "I cannot, Remorse sits in my place." | ||
| 2) | Evening Prayer - by C. Maud Battersby.
If I have wounded any soul today
If I have uttered idle words or vain,
If I have craved for joys that are not mine,
If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,
Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee, |
In the fall of 1922, at the beginning of my second year at the University of Toronto, my brother Clifford was registered at Victoria College, on the same campus, on his way to a Master of Arts degree and thereafter to take his theological training. So we rented an attic room at 18 Grosvenor Street, which was even closer to the university than my room of the previous year. Here Clifford and I lived together and pursued our separate studies until the summer recess of 1926.
The room was sparsely furnished and had one window at the end which looked out on Grosvenor Street. We had a work table and a cheap double bed with a thin mattress. There was also a small open bookcase where we kept our books. There were also two padded chairs for us to use and a small wardrobe. There was no bath room nor sink in our room. We had access to a bathroom down the hall which was shared by other people and where we had to go to wash. At the inner end of the room was a small cabinet with a couple of drawers, where we kept our few dishes and spoons, knives and forks, etc. On top of this low cabinet was a gas burner, and in the lower part of the cabinet we kept a slop pail. Beside the cabinet, on a chair, we kept a pail of water handy, to avoid running to the bathroom every time we needed water for cooking and drinking. On the wall behind the cabinet we hung the
65
few kitchen utensils we used for boiling, stewing and frying. We did our own cooking and ate out only occasionally.
Not all of my time at the university was spent in studying. I had to take some exercise so I walked a good deal. I explored the large university campus and became familiar with its various college buildings and sports arenas. I sometimes watched games being played such as rugby, tennis and baseball but I never took part in them. One of my classmates, Warren Snyder, became a famous rugby player, but he was not a very good student.
One of the much-used buildings on the university grounds was Hart House. In it were many rooms which were available to students for meetings large and small. Hart House had a large room devoted largely to basketball. Hart House also had a well developed and equipped gymnasium. In here I spent quite a lot of time exercising on the various equipment facilities.
One time when I was in the gymnasium exercising my arm muscles, while pulling on ropes along the wall which lifted weights, I had an accident. At this time I was facing the machine which had handles on the ends of the ropes and flexing my biceps by alternately bending and extending my arms at the elbows. In this maneuver it was necessary to pull the rope handles toward my face. At one point the handle in my right hand became detached from the rope end, and the metal part swivelled on the wooden hand-grip which I was holding, struck the top of one of my middle upper incisor teeth and broke a piece completely off it. Of course I had to get it fixed promptly, so I went to the Dental College on the campus where I was able to get the work done free, as a practice subject for a dental student in the senior class.
Hart House had a running track, which I used for running exercise. There was also, of course, a swimming pool with its shower rooms, both of which I used.
Another interesting area was the handball courts. These had galleries where spectators could watch, which I did from time to time, but I never tried the game myself. One time when Edward, Prince of Wales, from England visited the university, a classmate of mine was privileged to play handball with him in one of these courts.
Already having some prowess in wrestling, it was only natural that I should continue my interest at the University. So I joined an instruction class at Hart House and had some tutoring by a wrestling instructor. I learned a number of things I didn't know and further strengthened certain muscles. In competition I even got to the semifinals. In that particular contest I did not do well at all. I was easily thrown three times by my competitor. I didn't seem to have my usual zest for the game. The next day I learned why. I found I was running a fever and coming down with another of my frequent attacks of mild rheumatic fever. At any rate, I decided that was the time for me to give up wrestling.
Hart House was used every month or so for a gathering of medical students in one of the smaller rooms, for what they called a Smoker. The subject was usually of interest in the field of medicine and I attended sometimes to hear the speaker. But it was always a severe trial for me because the room was so blue with tobacco smoke that I could hardly stand it.
66
One time, I think it was in my second year at the university, when Clifford and I were together in our attic room at 18 Grosvenor Street, I suddenly developed a very rapid heart beat which is called paroxysmal tachycardia. I had never had it before and it alarmed me. My pulse rate was about twice as fast as it should be, but regular at that rate. We called in a general practitioner, who had an office nearby. He was kind and sympathetic but had never seen such a condition before and was unable to help me. After about six hours lying in bed it suddenly reverted to its normal rate and again I felt OK. In later years I learned what the condition was. I also learned that my mother from time to time had similar attacks. I continued to have attacks of this kind for many years, and there were never any lasting, or known, aftereffects. Sometime in the 1950's, when I was working at the Minneapolis Health Department and taking my usual cup of black coffee in the building's cafeteria, it occurred to me that maybe coffee was the cause of my recurrent tachycardia. Anyway I decided to stop drinking coffee for a while to find out. Right away I be came free of my paroxysmal tachycardia and have, to all intents and purposes, not had an attack since. That is why I always refuse coffee now.
Hart House had a tiny chapel with a capacity for about 8 or 10 people at once. It had a pulpit and padded seats. I found it a comfortable place for private meditations. Sometimes, I believe, it was even used for very private weddings.
Since I never studied on Sundays I always had time to attend a church service, or other religious activity, on that day. For variety Clifford and I often went walking on the Boardwalk along Toronto's shore line. Occasionally we took the ferry over to the Island in the Bay and roamed over the park lands there or observed the gala things going on there in the amusement park. Very rarely, on a Saturday evening, we took in a moving picture show at a small theatre, where we could get a seat high up ("in the Gods") for 25 cents.
As time went on, I accompanied Clifford sometimes at his social functions at the Victoria College. There I became acquainted with some very fine young people, both male and female. Some of these were preparing for the Christian ministry and other church work. Some of them were preparing to go to foreign fields as missionaries. One of them was Robert McClure, who married one of the Service girls and I believe later went to India. I liked them both.
Clifford got to know some of the girls who were getting special education at a Deaconess Training School. One of these was Aleta Brody who eventually became his wife. I also got to know a few of the girls there and associated with them a little.
We also became members of the young peoples group at a church not far from the university. Here we met other students whom we got to know quite well. The kind of activities carried on were not only spiritually uplifting, but intellectually stimulating and socially satisfying. There I got to know quite well two sisters, Carrie and Ella. Also in our group was a likeable law student called Ernie Livermore. I believe Ella married a dentist and they settled somewhere in British Columbia. Carrie, after graduation, married Ernie Livermore. They settled in Aylmer, Ontario, where Ernie developed a good law practice and eventually became a judge. Aylmer was
67
not very far from Brownsville, Ontario, where in later years I carried on as the local physician. Ernie and Carrie were occasionally our guests in Brownsville.
One classmate that I studied with quite a good deal at the university was Louis Kazdan. He was Jewish and a very fine fellow with a strong moral character. He too had to struggle financially to get his education. He eventually became a Certified Specialist in Ophthalmology and practiced in Toronto, Ontario. In later years, he and his wife Anna visited me and my family in Brownsville, Ontario, and also in Whitby, Ontario.
Another classmate I was familiar with at the university was F. D. Linton. Doug was already married and had some small children when he undertook to become a doctor. When he graduated he set up a practice in the vicinity of Windsor, Ontario.
During my university years I had neither time nor interest in developing a close relationship with any girls, although I met with them at times in groups.
There was a distant relative of mine at the university whom I saw occasionally. He worked as a chemist in the Pharmacology Department at the Medical School. His name was Clarence Downs and he called my grandfather Cutler, Uncle Edgar. He too had his origin in Fair Ground and his younger sister was a senior in the public school in Fair Ground when I attended there as a youngster.
Since I had entered the university with intent to become a Medical missionary, I retained my relationship with others at the university who were like-minded. At 60 Grosvenor Street there was a well-kept residence for girls who were interested in becoming missionaries. It was the center for the university's Student Volunteer Movement. I got to know several of the young women there very well and often attended group meetings there with other young men who were students interested in the Movement. One or two of the girls in my undergraduate class lived there. This group, and the young men who were deeply interested in mission and religious things, met together regularly once a week for a religious discussion, in an assigned small room in Knox College. I was a regular participant.
When it was near graduation time for us medical-student members of this group in 1927, a special farewell gathering was held for us. Each of us was presented with a hand-made embossed folder, with the enlarged emblem of the class of 1927 on the outside. On the inside, in fancy gold and black lettering, were the names of the seven members of the group from my class who were graduating. They were:
Grace Ada Campbell
Bonny Oak Choi
Ilo Myrtle Fraser
Wilford Edison Park
Ronald Steele Saddington
Alec Mervyn Skinner
David Arnold Wyke
On the next two pages were the names of the other members who were present at the party. There were 30 such signatures.
On the back of the folder, which I still have, are the names of the executives of the group for the year 1926-27.
68
| President | -W. Gordon Brown | |
| Vice President | -Grace A. Campbell | |
| Secretary | -Margaret Smith | |
| Treasurer | -David A. Wyke | |
| Corresponding Secretary | -Stella P. Abidh | |
| Extension Secretary | -Hartley Grafton | |
| Poster Convenor | -Fred A. Clift | |
| Librarian | -Isabel Menzies |
Throughout my whole university career, I was associated with another religiously-oriented group called The Student Christian Movement. It was a group which had representatives from many different faculties of the university. They had discussion courses led by distinguished religious counselors and teachers. I attended most of them. During the last five of my six school years, I was the official representative of the Medical School to this group. And during my Sixth year, I was the President of The Student Christian Movement for the whole University of Toronto, which at that time had about forty thousand students.
During my last year, the group's most important meeting of the year was held at Hart House. About five hundred students attended. I had arranged the meeting and obtained the speaker who was Professor J. P. McMurrich, Head of the Anatomy Department. I acted as Chairman at the meeting. His talk was well received and he said nothing disparaging about religion.
In January 1925, my classmate Ilo Fraser and I were sent to Washington, D.C. to a conference, as representatives of the Medical School student body, with our expenses paid. We went by train, and on the train we met other students on their way to the same conference. Among them were Wilfrid Hiltz and Agnes Mitchel from other faculties of the University of Toronto and Margaret Gibson from Queens University.
We got acquainted on the train, and after the meetings were over, we got together as a group and explored the City of Washington.
My medical education progressed very well, partly because I was able to study faithfully long hours and never had to interrupt my classes, or sacrifice sleeping time, to earn money during the school years.
At the end of my fifth year, in my final examination of the year, I earned the following grades:
| Medicine (including Paediatrics) | -A | |
| Surgery | -A | |
| Obstetrics and Gynecology | -A | |
| Pathology | -A | |
| Pathological Chemistry | -A | |
| Hygiene | -A | |
| Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology | -A | |
| Therapeutics | -A |
69
I had an overall average of 75% and passed 8th in the class with honours. In 1926, I was one of the first five students selected from my class to become members of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Fraternity. Membership in this fraternity is given only on the basis of high scholastic standing. There were only five of us who made it that year:
H. Borsook, M.A., Ph.DThe following year in 1927 four more were admitted from my class. They were:
P. G. Murray
W. E. Park
W. S. Keith, B.A.
B. A. Killoran
A. W. FarmerThe officers of Alpha Omega Alpha for the year 1926-1927 were:
D. E. Cannell
N. M. Wrong
C. E. Snelling
| Counselor | -Dr. J. A. Oille | |
| President | -H. Borsook | |
| Vice President | -P. J. Murray | |
| Secretary - Treasurer | -W. S. Keith |
Membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha is for life. Some doctors, who have especially distinguished themselves after graduation, have been honored by election to this Honorary Medical Fraternity.
During the 1926-1927 year the AOA put on eight evening meetings. Each one of us had some part in one of the programs. The program on March 7, 1927 involved the subject "Traumatic Conditions of the Knee Joint" presented by W. E. Park and C. E. Snelling. The discussion which followed was led by Dr. C. E. Gossage and Professor of Surgery, C. L. Starr.
Having come this far in the saga of my struggle for a good education it would seem in keeping with my sentiments to quote a couple of poems I have kept in my collection.
1) This one I copied in April 1928 from "A Psalm of Life" by Longfellow -
Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
70
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,2) Growth, by Hugh J. Hughes
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
It is easy to climb when the strong hands lift,
It is easy to go where the waters drift;
But it tests the sinew and tries the bone
To climb to the heights when you climb alone,
And your back must bend with a breaking strain
When against the tide your port you gain.
It is easy to say what the many believe,
It is easy to take what they receive;
But to set your face as a flint to lies
That are hoary-headed and seeming wise
Demands of a man that faith to think
Beyond the bounds where the millions shrink.
It is easy to join with the jesting throng
In its babble of mirth and its thoughtless song,
But once you have trodden the path of pain
Your heart will never know peace again
Until it comes, as it will and must,
Through seeming doubt to larger trust.
The reader will remember that at the end of the previous chapter I explained how the first year of my university education was financed. It would seem appropriate, at this point, to explain how I managed to finance the rest of the six years of schooling and one year of internship in a hospital without interruption, and without having to work at earning money, at any time, during the months when the university was in session.
Toward the end of my first year at the medical school at the University of Toronto, I somehow learned that the company manufacturing "Wear-Ever" aluminum cooking utensils, not far from Toronto, was seeking salesmen for the summer among university students. As there was no prospect for employment for me elsewhere, I joined the group and received instruction on how to proceed. Each student was assigned his territory. I was assigned to the Picton, Ontario area for the summer of 1922.
Instruction was given in how to keep records, send reports to the company, how to order and make payments, etc. We were told to arrange evening demonstrations twice a week. These were to be conducted, in the kitchen, in the home of a cooperative family. The hostess was responsible for inviting her neighboring women friends. For doing this the hostess was to be presented with a gift of a valuable
71
"Wear-Ever" utensil. The salesman was instructed to do some cooking using Wear-Ever utensils. In doing so the salesman not only talked about the utensils, but actually demonstrated how effectively they could be used. The salesman was also instructed not to sell any utensils at the demonstration, but to make individual calls, on the women present, for the sales pitch at their homes in the following days.
The summer vacations from the university permitted 14 weeks to be used annually for this selling job. I started in hopefully in my territory and after one week of genuine effort I had sold only one little sauce pan which went for 75 cents. This was discouraging and seemed to indicate that, as a salesman, my future was unpromising. Furthermore, at the end of my first month, my income from sales only matched my expenses with no net profits.
However, my whole future depended upon my succeeding in earning enough to carry me through another year in the study of medicine. There was no help available to me from any source, no such things as student scholarships, no student loans, generous well-wishers, etc. I had to fight on, or give up.
I found some encouragement in the following bit of poetry (author unknown).
"It's All in the State of Mind"
If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost a "cinch" you won't;
If you think you'll lose, you've lost,
For out in the world you'll find
Success begins with a fellow's will -
It's all in the state of mind.
Full many a race is lost
Ere even a step is run,
And many a coward fails
Ere even his work's begun;
Think big and your deeds will grow,
Think small and you'll fall behind;
Think that you can, and you will
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But Soon or late the man who wins
Is the fellow who thinks he can.
After the end of my first month of selling "Wear-Ever" I seemed to improve my technique, largely by applying ideas of my own rather than those taught by the Company's Sales-Manager. Anyway by the end of the summer of 1922 I had earned
72
and saved $600.00 which was enough to carry me through my second year at the Medical School.
The following summer I did even better. I was able to pay back to my grandfather the $300 he had lent me and had more money banked than I needed for my third year at the university. This second summer I was assigned to New Lisguard and vicinity.
The third summer I was assigned to Penetanguishine and vicinity. The fourth summer I sold in Haileybury and in Cobalt, Ontario. The fifth summer, 1926, I sold "Wear-Ever" in Welland, Ontario.
At the end of my fourth summer of selling I found that I had sold more than any other "Wear-Ever" salesman in Canada. At a banquet put on by the Aluminum Company of Canada in Toronto I was awarded the first prize of $100.00 in the first competition among their salesmen, and I didn't even know of the competition ahead of time.
During my fifth summer selling "Wear-Ever", I was again well ahead of any other of their salesmen, when I stopped selling at the end of 12 weeks instead of going the full 14 weeks as before. Even so, with 2 more weeks of selling, only one individual surpassed me, so that I still won the second prize of $50.00.
The "Wear-Ever" Bulletin, put out periodically by the aluminum company in both Canada and the United States, in the year 1925 carried a picture of me headed by the title "Dominion-Wide Contest Won by Varsity Man". Under it, in part, were these words "During the summer of 1925 the Aluminum Company of Canada held a contest in which Mr. W. E. Park, 217 Meds, proved his efficiency as a salesman by securing first prize ($100.00) from a field of over 125 starters....He expects to give again all contenders a lively time during the coming summer, in any contest which may be held."
I don't know how the points of this 1925 contest were determined, but here I am detailing the number of points allotted to the first five prize winners because the fifth position was won by my brother, Clifford G. Park.
| |
Points | Prize | ||
| W. E. Park C. G. Park | 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th |
733 576 535 533 528 |
$100.00 50.00 25.00 25.00 10.00 |
I still have in my possession a letter on the letterhead of Aluminum Company of Canada, Limited, "Wear-Ever", Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is signed by their Specialty Sales Manager, S. V. Wright, which reads as follows.
April 18, 1928To Whom It May Concern:
This is to certify that Dr. Wilford E. Park demonstrated and sold our "Wear-Ever" products for five summers, during which time he established
73
many sales records and at that time proved a leader.
In our first Efficiency Sales Contest he won first prize and was pitted against salesmen from all over Canada, and in our second contest he won second prize. Mr. Park did what very few students do, namely, financed his entire university course from the profits made while selling "Wear-Ever" during the summer months, plus a substantial surplus to help weather him through his postgraduate work in medicine.
Note: The last statement of Mr. Wright is true, because from those earnings, I did pay back to my grandfather and my father the $300.00 each, which was advanced to me for my first year of university.
When selling "Wear-Ever" I always lived in a private home where I was able to get accommodation at a reasonable price. Usually I got breakfast with my room. Other meals were usually obtained at an inexpensive public place. For transportation I used the streetcars or public bus service. Where distances were not too great I walked and carried my two large suitcases full of the complete sample set. When making deliveries I hired a horse-drawn light vehicle. I collected payments on delivery. I kept my receipts in a bank and paid my expenses by check. One woman realized that she had over-bought and for a time kept her purchase hidden. One other woman bought a complete set of Wear-Ever utensils as a present to her daughter at her wedding.
The cooking demonstrations were an important part of the sales technique. At a demonstration I did such things as cooking carrots and potatoes and other vegetables, and then running them through a cone-shaped ricer, and finally using them for a delicious soup. Frequently I fried an egg in the frying pan and showed how it could be swirled around in the frying pan without sticking.
I also baked pancakes on the heavy griddle which didn't stick even though the pan was not greased. The secret of this was really in the pancake batter. It had butter added to it, but the most vital ingredient was an egg.
Another spectacular stunt was to bake a lovely yellowish cake on the top of the stove. For this purpose I used the omelet pan which was hinged in the middle so that either half served as a cover. When the cake was baked on the first side the upper side of the pan would be pushed up by the rising cake. At this point I would turn the pan over and bake it on the other side. The women would always gasp as they were sure it would cause the cake to fall, but it never did and the cake was always intact and delicious.
Cleaning up the used utensils and the kitchen afterward was a somewhat tedious chore, but generally there was an unmarried daughter in the house willing to help me. I was always able to leave my bags, with their sample utensils in them, overnight with the hostess and start my selling campaign from there the next morning.
I have tried to determine why I was so successful in selling and for the most part it appears to have been due to hard work. It was suggested in our training sessions that we should hold two demonstrations a week and average thirty-six showing of samples per week. My records show that I held 3 demonstrations per week and averaged 54 showings of samples per week. Also I worked at the job over 58 hours per week.
74
Another facility, which I somehow developed, was the ability to perceive within a few minutes, when talking outside of the door, whether or not the woman was likely to buy. This enabled me to cut short the time spent with unfavorable prospects.
There must also have been some improvement in my ability to sell, because in the summer of 1926 my effectiveness per showing of samples was 78.5%, whereas in the summer of 1925 66.6% resulted in sales.
I think it was also important that I never mentioned, at anytime, that I was working my way through the university. That is, I never tried to sell myself. All of my approach was directed toward promoting the quality and adaptability of "Wear- Ever".
Because it occurred while I was away at the university, I want to relate here something that happened to my father. One day he was leading a horse home from the pasture field by a rope which was fastened to a halter the horse was wearing. It was raining very heavily and they were walking in the middle of the road. Just as they reached the top of a small hill a bolt of lightning struck the horse down and killed it, but my father was totally unscathed. The horse, at the time, was wearing iron horseshoes, which was probably a factor in attracting the lightning.
There were two gala occasions of significance which I attended with my classmates during the sixth year of my medical course. They were the "Medical At Home" in the Crystal Ballroom at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, and the 2T7 Medical Graduation Dinner at the Carls-Rite Hotel.
The "Medical at Home" was on the evening of February 1, 1927, and it was for the whole student body of the School of Medicine. The Patronesses were the wives of Professors A. Primrose, E. S. Ryerson, John Oille, W. E. Gallie and W. B. Hendry. The music was provided by Romanelli's Orchestra. The program consisted of eight fox trots and one waltz before supper and five fox trots and two waltzes after supper.
The Medical Graduation Dinner was held in the evening of March 2, 1927. The meal was good, featuring roast chicken. There were toasts as follows to:
The King - by my classmates L. A. Maklin and E. B. Patterson
Alma Mater - C. H. Rutherford and Sir Robert Falcones, President of the University of Toronto
The Faculty - W. A. Diniwoody and Professor Primrose, Dean of the Medical School
2T7 Athletes - Dr. W. E. Gallie and H. Marritt
Daffydil Skit - Dr. E. S. Ryerson and J. E. Matheson
The Profession - A. R. J. Heffering and Dr. M. H. V. Cameron
Presentation of Athletic Stick to Warren B. Synider by Dr. W. H. Hendry
Presentation of Cup to H. D. Marritt by Prof. C. L. Starr
Addresses to the Graduating Class were given by Sir Robert Falconer, Mr. Justice Riddell and Mr. I. H. Cameron
The sixth year of the Medical course was devoted largely to practical experience. There were opportunities to study actual patients closely in hospital and to talk the findings over with the teachers and professors. There were opportunities to study hospital charts and to become familiar with diagnostic laboratory procedures. There
75
were opportunities to sit in the gallery and watch operations being performed. There was, in addition, practice under supervision of giving vaccinations, giving anaesthetics and conducting labours.
I remember witnessing the giving of a blood transfusion for the first time in the outpatient department of Sick Children's Hospital. The child was probably about 8 months old. I don't know the diagnosis, nor why a transfusion was being given. The child seemed immobilized with eyes closed. I don't know whether or not any sedative had been given. The intern was injecting blood with a large syringe, in what seemed to me to be a fast rate for so small a child. After a few of these injections the child seemed to yawn and stop breathing. We students were hustled out of the room and I don't know what further efforts were made to restore the child, if any.
My final examinations at the end of my sixth year at the University of Toronto Medical School consisted of a total of 37 papers and orals. I afterward learned that I obtained A standing in 19 of them and B standing in the other 18.
When the names of the students came out in the newspaper afterward, I found that I was among the seven students who were at the top of my class and who had passed the sixth year examinations with honors.
There were also five of us who had done so well throughout the six years of the medical course that we were scheduled to graduate from the Medical School with honors.
I further learned that I stood third in the class of 112 who would graduate. It seems that I did remarkably well to attain this standing, considering that the man who came first in the class had undertaken the study of medicine after he had an M.A. degree and Ph.D. degree. Also another of the best five in the class had a B.A. degree before he started medicine.
Graduation ceremonies were held in Convocation Hall at the university. We five who graduated with honors were the first to be called up. At that time the University of Toronto was following the pattern of the British Universities and conferred on us the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine - M.B. Graduation day was June 7, 1927.
Many years later the University of Toronto adopted the American pattern of conferring the M.D. degree. All of the earlier graduates were contacted and told that they could have the M.D. issued to them without further examinations, if they wished. I chose to have it changed so the records show that I obtained my M.D. degree in April 1946. To people who don't know better, it would seem that I started with an M.B. degree and later earned the M.D. degree.
After the University of Toronto examinations were over, and before the Convocation was held, I wrote the Examination set by the Medical Council of Canada. I passed it without difficulty and became a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada on July 6, 1927. With this certificate I could register to practice medicine and surgery in any part of Canada, without having to pass any more examinations. I chose to register in the Province of Ontario.
76
Unlike many other medical students, I sought internship only at the Toronto General Hospital because it was most used for university teaching, and it was here that most of the University Professors carried on their individual specialty practice. I was immediately accepted and began my internship there on July 1, 1927.
As an intern at the Toronto General Hospital I was required to sleep nights at the hospital. I shared a room with another junior intern who was also one of my classmates. At the hospital, at that time, interns were not paid any salary. However we were supplied with all of our meals, supplied with white suits and our laundry was taken care of without cost to us.
In the doctors quarters, on the top floor of the hospital, there was a comfortable common room and a game room equipped with pool and billiard tables. There was a library with some medical books available. As a junior intern my responsibilities were limited and varied, but fitted into the differentiated responsibilities of a senior intern. The senior interns, being fewer in number, covered larger departments in the hospital than did the junior interns.
I spent a lot of my time taking histories and writing them up on the charts of new patients. My assignments changed every month so that I got experience in every part of the hospital. I remember spending a month in the obstetrical department, where I frequently acted as the physician delivering a baby. Of course if difficulties were encountered the Senior intern took over.
I remember there was one woman sitting around who had reached the end of her term, but who was not actually in labor. She had had several children before, and never had experienced any labor pains. She never knew when she was in labor, and had experienced embarrassing situations when she found that the baby was coming out. This time, she determined that she would already be in the hospital when it happened. I was not there when her baby was born so I did not observe the delivery without pain.
I remember one month I was assigned to the private women patients ward. The women had their own private physicians so there I didn't get much practical experience, but I took care of the routine things and got experience in public relations.
There was one time when a policeman needed a transfusion and I was delegated to draw a few cubic centimeters of blood from about eight or nine big policemen, who were associates of the patient, for the purpose of blood typing to select a donor. I had them waiting in an adjoining room and took them in, one at a time, where a nurse was helping me. I had just nicely started when there was a loud thump in the waiting room. The noise was caused by one of the big policemen fainting and falling down on the floor, before he had even seen a needle or any blood.
I also had a short assignment to the women's clinic in the outpatient department. Here I encountered many minor conditions and some venereal disease among them.
I recall one time when I was assisting in the men's outpatient clinic, a man came in who was complaining of back pain. The senior intern there wanted him to have some counter-irritation to his back, which was supposed to have much the same benefit as heat applied, but more lasting. He showed me how to quickly pass a hot electric instrument across his back which would leave only a first degree burn. He was sent home with several red streaks across his back. I never heard whether it was beneficial or not.
77
I remember one time, when I was working in the outpatient emergency room, we had a man brought in who had been shot in the head. He was bleeding quite profusely. After that was controlled he was admitted to the hospital and I don't know what happened to him.
One time I was assisting a surgeon when he had to amputate a man's arm because of severe gangrene. When the surgeon was sewing up the skin afterward, he accidentally caught his needle in my arm. Because of the danger of infection from the organism causing the gangrene, he sent me promptly away to have some antiseptic applied to my arm. I did not develop any infection.
I remember hearing about a young public patient who had his tonsils removed and then returned to his ward. There was nothing unusual about his case, except that in the morning he was not there, and it was learned that he had jumped out of the window in the night, which was on the ground floor, and was never heard from again.
One time I assisted Dr. McKenzie at an operation when he had to open the skull of his patient. It was a long and tedious process, and I do not remember the reason for operating. However, as soon as he got a look at the dura mater, Dr. McKenzie saw that it was tuberculosis and knew at once that there was nothing he could do to help him, so he closed up the opening.
Most of my work at the hospital was on the medical wards where my responsibilities were to take and write-up the complaints and medical histories on patients charts and to order routine laboratory procedures. I found that I was more interested in medicine than in surgery and I devoted much time to doing thorough examinations of patients in the medical wards.
It is perhaps worthy to note that of the nine members of my graduating class of 1927 who in their undergraduate days became members of Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Fraternity, four of us eventually became certified in some specialty, as follows:
D. E. Cannell, certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1934
N. M. Wrong, certified in Dermatology in 1938
A. W. Farmer, certified in Plastic Surgery in 1939
W. E. Park, certified in Occupational Medicine in 1955.
And none of us started our medical education with prior university degrees.
It is also perhaps interesting that three of us, Dr. Farmer, Dr. Cannell and myself had at least one year of internship at the Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Farmer was there at the same time I was.
It was during my days as an intern at Toronto General Hospital that I wrote a little poem, dated March 4, 1928.
What is Life
By Wilford E. Park, M.D.
What is life, that I should live,
To earn each day a bowl of meal,
Regardless of another's weal,
And seek at night a pallet mine?
78
What is life, that I should fear,
The whim of chance, the grasp of greed,
As plodding on, my feet do bleed
Upon the stones of circumstance?What is life, that I should stay,
If not for joy of life to live,
With cheer and hope and love to give,
And living be myself today?So toiling, sleeping, loving still,
With hope that cannot be suppressed,
For life with Holy beauty blessed,
Is God's own destiny for man.
Late in the Spring of 1928 I became seriously ill with rheumatic fever. It was playing havoc with my heart and for quite a time it was questionable that I would recover. I was confined to bed in the General Hospital under the care of Dr. John Oille, chief cardiologist. At that time antibiotics and sulfonamides were not available, so aspirin was about the only useful drug. Dr. Oille put me on ten grains of aspirin and ten grains of Sodium bicarbonate four times a day. This routine dosage continued for many months. Of course, hospitalization, and all of the doctors services, were provided to me free of charge.
When no significant improvement was taking place, the doctors decided that it might help to remove my tonsils. This was done by one of the nose and throat specialists. and I was afterward returned to my room, which was then on an upper floor over the Emergency Department. Soon after my return to the room, the tonsillar area on the right side began to bleed quite freely. An intern was hastily called, who happened to be my classmate Dr. K. E. Ferrie. He put a swab on a forcep and proceeded to hold it firmly in my throat on that side, which was the correct procedure. However, he did not have it low enough in my throat so that I continued to bleed below it. After a little while I realized what was happening and that my trachea was filling up with blood. Of course I couldn't talk, nor otherwise alert him to the situation. So in desperation, I grabbed his arm and pulled the swab out of my throat, and then I coughed up about a cupful of clotted blood into the basin.
Of course he was angry with me, but it was either do what I did or suffocate in my own blood. When he inserted another swab he got it in the right place, and after holding it a long time successfully stopped the bleeding.
In the summer of 1928 the doctors at the General Hospital decided that there was nothing further that they could do for me, and indicated that I would have to stay in bed for many more months. So it was determined that I should go home to my father's and mother's place in the country where I could get lots of clean fresh air and sunshine.
In preparation for my arrival in Fair Ground, my father borrowed a tent from one of his neighbors and set it up on his lawn near to the house. He also acquired a cot, which was on wheels, and could be wheeled out into the sunshine during the day.
79
At the hospital everyone was very kind to me and I could have visitors at any time. I spent a good deal of time reading and was well looked after. Although during my internship I was ill for quite some time I still got full credit for the year's internship.
Being strictly a bed patient posed some problems in getting me to Fair Ground, Ontario. I was taken to the railroad station in Toronto in the General Hospital ambulance and placed on a cot on the floor of an empty freight car. The freight car was attached to the passenger train and I was on my way to Tillsonburg. Someone was sitting in the freight car with me or available for all of my needs.
On arrival at Tillsonburg, Ostrander's ambulance was at the railroad station and picked me up and took me to the tent provided for me in Fair Ground.
My health improved very slowly in Fair Ground, but when the cold of fall was coming on I was still unable to be up and about. It became necessary to move me into the shelter of the house, and into a bedroom upstairs. My father, at that time well past 46 years of age, was still strong enough to take me in his arms and carry me up the narrow stairs to the bed.
After being in bed about eight months in all, I began to sit up a little, and after several more weeks, I was getting around quite freely.
In the spring of 1929 I felt that I had to be getting on with my practice of medicine. By this time I was convinced that the Good Lord did not want me to be come a foreign missionary, so I began looking into the possibility of going into general practice.
At this time Dr. H. J. Alexander's partner in Tillsonburg had died, and Dr. Alexander, a long time friend of mine, took me in to start work with him. I think he had in mind that I might eventually become a partner. After a short time he wanted me to become skillful in using the equipment he had in his office to test eyesight, and to fit glasses. So he arranged for me to get some training in this area through private tutoring by an optometrist in Toronto. He sent me there for this purpose and paid all of my expenses.
I benefitted from the training, but when I came back I found that Dr. Norman McLeod of Brownsville, nearby, had bought himself a partnership with Dr. Alexander and they had planned to put me into Dr. McLeod's office in Brownsville. So that is where I ended up. I took Dr. Alexander's eye testing equipment with me and used it there. I eventually bought it. At first I worked for Drs. Alexander and McLeod on a salary but later I bought the practice there and also the property vacated by Dr. McLeod.
80