Doctors Elect, Honor Worley

              2-C Sunday, Dec. 9, 1973
Doctors Elect,
Honor Worley
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
Education for both patients
and physicians will be
stressed during the one-year
term of Dr. Albert M. Hand,
who was installed last night,
as president of the Shreveport
Medical Society.
Hand is a pathologist
turned pediatrician turned
pathologist who has practiced
in such far flung places as
Kansas City, Mo., Los
Angeles, Calif., St. Louis,
Mo., Chicago, 111., Texarkana,
Tex. - Ark., and Memphis,
Tenn., as well as Shreveport.
He was reared in Mississip-pi,
the son of a physician, and
was educated at Delta State
Teacher's College, Cleveland,
Miss., and Louisiana State
University in Baton Rouge.
• He graduated from the
University of Tennessee Col-lege
of Medicine in 1942.
Triple Certified
He is certified by three
professional boards, the
American Boards- of
Pediatrics, Clinical and
Pathology, both clinical and
pathologic anatomy.
I He has also served in
numerous civic positions
since moving here in 1958. He
is a former United Fund
president. He is a past
president of the American
Cancer Society, Shreveport
Chapter, and was director of
publicity for the Polio SOS
Program in 1963.
Hand is director of the
School of Medical Technology
at Echumpert Memorial
Hospital.
He interrupted his work for
an interview in his office in
the midst of the hustle of the
fgthology laboratory on the
Second floor of Schumpert
Memorial Hospital.
The office is filled with wall
shelves full of books, and on
the desk is a photo -
microscope.
On the bulletin board is a>
plaque with hand - painted
pictures representing his five
children, Albert Moore, 12;
Donald N., 20; Norma Jane,
17, John Momon, 12, and
Wanda Jean, 10.
Thenew Medical Society of-ficial
feels that it is important
to make people aware of the
major medical illnesses.
The first line of defense in
raising the level of medical
care and fighting disease is
getting patients into the
physician's office, he feels.
But he also thinks that con-tinuing
education for the doc-tors
themselves is as equally
important as education for
their patients.
There is what he termed a
"competitive urgency" for
local practioners keeping up.
Medical centers in Houston,
Tex. and Memphis, Tenn. are
only a plane ride away, he
pointed out.
Physician's images he said
are "better than roost people
think."
He explained that local doc-tors
spend many hours
teaching at the LSU Medical
School at Shreveport — where
Hand himself is clinical as-sociate
professor of pathology
— and in fact, around the
nation.
Recently, he pointed out, at
cme time, six Shreveport doc-tors
were speaking in dif-ferent
spots around the
nation.
"Readiness in the diagnosis
of both acute and chronic ill-ness
is the keystone of the
practice of medicine by the
members of the Shreveport
Medical Society. We are con-stantly
studying morbidity
and mortality statistics in an
effort to be prepared to han-dle
the problems," said
Hand.
Dr. W. B. Worley, Pediatrician
. . . distinguished service rewarded
Pro-Baseball Was
His Real Ambition
Dr. Albert Bicknell
But he also commended
public agencies in the city,
which he said add "scientific
depth" to the local medical
community.
This includes Barksdale Air
Force Base Hospital, the LSU
Medical School at Shreveport
and Confederate Memorial
Medical Center.
Some controversial topics,
such as national health in-surance,
Hand avoids with a
joke and one of his famous
smiles.
Medical health care is un-der
scrutiny by private
groups, the government and
even the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Hospitals.
Insurance Pays Most
When pressed, he hedges,
"Well, (hospital) ad-ministrators
can tell you that
most people pay hospital bills
with insurance."
Installed as president -
elect was Dr. Albert L.
Bicknell. Outgoing president
was Dr. Donald F. Overdyke
Jr.
Other officers are Dr. Steve
G. Kirkikis, first vice
president; Dr. Michael Ellis,
second vice president; Dr. A.
L. Wedgeworth, secretary;
Dr. Neil Walker, treasurer,
and Dr. Clarence Webb,
historian.
Board members are Drs.
Douglas King, Rozelle Hahn,
Jean C. Brierre, Adrian Reed,
Milton Chapman, Jack Cous-sons
and Carl Goodman.
Louisiana Medical Society
delegates for 1976 are Drs. J.
Dudley Talbot, D. R. Martin,
James Bergeron and Charles
Nash; for 1975, Dr. Durrell A.
Hiller, and for 1974, Dr. Paul
Winder.
Dr. W. B. Worley — a man
who didn't want to be a doc-tor
at all, but a professional
baseball player — last night
was given the Shreveport
Medical Society's ninth an-nual
Distinguished Service
Award.
The award is given — by
vote of the some 400-rnember
society—to the person who has
made an outstanding
contribution tQ the
advancement of medicine in
this area.
Previous winners are Dr. C.
H. Webb, Dr. W. R. Mathews,
Dr. J. E. Holoubek, Dr. Ralph
H. Riggs, Dr. Robert T.
Lucas, Dr. Mary Warters, Dr.
Edgar Hull and Dr. Edgar-
Galloway.
Athlete Turned Doctor
The award was a surprise,
according to his son, Dr. W.
H. Worley, a Shreveport oral
surgeon. His father finished
Centenary College after let-tering
in baspball, football
and basketball.
"He wanted to be a profes-sional
baseball player. At the
end of the summer, he told
me that he was going to be a
doctor," said Worley's son.
So Dr. Worley enrolled in
the Baylor University Medical
School, finishing in 1926.
He interned at the' old
Shreveport Charity Hospital,
and took a residency at
Milwaukee Children's
Hospital in Wisconsin.
His list of accomplishments
— both in medicine and in the
realm of civic service — are
numerous.
In 1971, he was given the
"Mr. Shreveport Award" by
the Optimist Club of
Shreveport.
His 28 years of service on
the Caddo School Board in-cluripd
a stint as chairman of
standing committees and
school board president.
He is still a member of the
Shreveport Board of Health, a
post he has held for 30 years.
He has served as president
of the Shreveport Medical
Society and as president of
the Louisiana Pediatric
Society. He once served as a
member of the state Comrnit.-
tee on the White House Con-ference.
Worley is a member of the
First Baptist Church of
Shreveport. He and his wife
have four children.
Worley still practices
'medicine two mornings a
week and examines children
in a Caddo-Shreveport Health
Unit program, said his son.
"He just loves kids," said
young Dr. Worley.
'Loves His Job'
"And he loves his job. He
got in something he enjoyed.
He enjoys his work as few
people do. I think if he got no
money for his work, he'd do
exactly what he was doing."
And, pointed out one
,,„medical society official,' Dr.
^Worley has done just that,
never turning down a patient
or sending him somewhere
just because the child's
parents had no money.
Something else Dr. Worley
enjoyed, according to his son,
was serving as tram
physician for the Fair Park
High School Indians football
team, a post he gave up only
a few years ago.
"When the school first
opened, he also served as
part-time coach. He was also
coach for the girls basketball
team at the old Shreveport
Charity Hospital," young
Worley commented.
Dr. Worley went on most
team trips, and he was the
physician when Fair Park
won the state championship
in 1952 with a team which in-cluded
LSU great Tommy
Davis.
THE SHREVEPQRT TIMES
Dr. Albert M. Hand