Shreveport Medicine on the Move

              May, 1973 Shreveport Times a personal viewpoint
Shreveport Medicine on the Move
Dr. Rod Yeager
(Editor's note: Dr. Rod M. Yeager, 33,
is director of Confederate Memorial
Medical Center and has served in this
capacity since December of 1972. He also
serves as chief of cardiac surgery for LSU
Medical School in Shreveport and as
assistant professor of
surgery at the medical
school. Dr. Yeager is a
graduate of Centenary
College and Tulane
University School of |
Medicine. He is a native
of Texarkana, Ark.)
It should be par-ticularly
satisfying to
t h e people of
Shreveport to know that
the quality of health
care in the Shreveport YEAGER
area has been and is presently of
excellent caliber. This is directly
attributable to the fine quality of training
of the physicians in Shreveport and the
surrounding areas. The dedication and
unselfishness of these fine physicians is
also in large part responsible for the
outstanding medical milieu of the
community.
The fact that Shreveport has several
outstanding hospitals, including several
fine private facilities, an outstanding
Veterans Administration Hospital, a
center for the care of the medically
indigent, a speech therapy and
rehabilitation center, and a new medical
school which graduated its first class
yesterday, is no accident, but rather a
tribute to the foresight, planning and
insatiable unselfishness of the physicians,
hospital administrators, legislators, and
many public-minded citizens.
It should also be comforting to the
community to know that these facilities
are only the beginning of an outstanding
future for Shreveport medicine. Areawide
planning to meet the needs of the
community is continuing along many
fronts. The Shreveport Medical Society,
with its dynamic leadership is in the
forefront of this planning and, indeed, is
the "anchorman" for the future plans of
medicine. The dedication and pride in the
community of this group of physicians,
the unselfishness with which they
contribute their time, not only to the care
of their own patients but to the medically
indigent of the community, must be a
source of pride to all of us.
Doctors Contribute Time
This contribution of time is nowhere
more evident than at Confederate
Memorial Medical Center, where
practically every physician in town
contributes at least a few hours of every
week, both during the day and at night, to
teaching and medical care at Confederate
Memorial and the medical school. There
is no financial reward for this donated
time, but merely pride and dedication to
teaching, continuing self-education, and
dedication to quality health care of all
segments of the population
Certainly the new medical school in
Shreveport is meeting its obligations to
the community along the lines of
areawide health planning. The
dedicated staff is taking a hard look at
the community to find areas where it can
contribute to health planning and
development. The medical school in
conjunction with Confederate Memorial
Medical Center' has a linn obligation in
meeting the demands of training of
medical and paramedical personnel for
the entire Northwest Louisiana area. The
future doctors, nurses and technicians to
meet the ever-growing demands of the
health needs of the community should be
and will be provided by the training
programs of the medical school and
Confederate Memorial Hospital.
The Northwest Louisiana Areawide,
Health Planning Council, inactive for
some time because of a severe lack of
funds, only within the last few months has
acquired an executive director who is
energetically developing its program.
A great deal of stimulation for
improvement of health care in the
community has come from the local, state
and federal public officials. Gov. Edwards
himself has taken a keen interest in the
medical programs in this area,
committing large amounts of state funds
to the rehabilitation centers, Confederate
Memorial Medical Center, and the
medical school. Strong support from our
local, state and federal legislators in the
field of health care in the community has
in large part contributed to the bright
future of medical care in Shreveport.
Certainly no small part has been
contributed by the superb support and
encouragement of the local press. Not
enough can be said for the public-minded
local community leaders for their
donation of time and energies to volunteer
work in the hospitals and fund raising.
Yes, medicine is on the move in
'Shreveport, and with the continued
support and interest from community
leaders, from representatives of a wide
variety of agencies interested in health
care, and from professionals in many
fields of the healing arts, the potential for
quality health care in the area is indeed
unlimited.