Tough, Young Director Changing Image of CMMC, Pondering its Future Role

              The Shreveport TimesMetropolitan
News
Area News
Section C, Page One
Classified Local News
Sunday, Jan. 21, 1973
Tough, Young Director Changing Image
Of CMMC, Pondering Its Future Role
By Margaret Martin
Times Medical Writer
Dr. Rodric M. Yeager speaks softly,
carries a stethoscope in his pocket and
holds a pipe in his hands.
"There is no question that we must
offer quality care to the medically
indigent," he says reflectively. "Is that
our only role? The hardest part is
figuring out what role Confederate must
play in the future of S h r e v e p o r t
medicine."
Yeager, 32, is director of the 650-bed
Confederate Memorial Medical Center
(CMMC) which is the public hospital for
the poor of North Louisiana.
It also is the teaching hospital for
LSU Medical School at Shreveport, and a
training center for interns, residents,
nurses, and medical and radiology
technicians.
Yeager, a native of Texarkana, Ark.,
is a heart surgeon turned administrator
who still does surgery. He was miffed
because a r e c e n t story about his
selection as director revealed his $30,000
salary, but not all of Ms credentials.
Related Story on Page 2-C
The young physician, who came to
Shreveport in July as assistant professor
of surgery with the medical school, is
proud of his training. (He is still on the
staff at the medical school, but his
salary has not been determined, accord-ing
to Dr. George Menelly, associate
dean.)
He was educated at Centenary College
and the Tulane University School of
Medicine.
He was a surgical intern and resident
at New Orleans Charity Hospital where
he also was a Research Fellow in
cardiovascular surgery.
He was chief resident in both surgery
and cardiovascular surgery at Charity.
,At Tulane, he served as a s s i s t a n t
professor and instructor in surgery, and
a Fellow in cardiovascular research.
He has completed and passed Part I
and has been unofficially notified that he
has passed Part II of an examination for
certification by the American Board of
Surgery. ,
While in medical school, he was
awarded the Meek Outstanding Senior
Medical Student Award.
He served as assistant clinical direc-tor
for two years at Charity Hospital in
New Orleans and set up the hospital's
accident room and trauma, burn and
surgical-intensive care units.
Patients Come First
Yeager believes that "patients come
first" though his words are determined
and unwavering.
He comes to work early and stays late
— as late as 9 p.m. — Monday through
Friday. But he is also at the institution
OH Saturdays and many Sundays.
Yeager has been in the brown leather
seat in the director's office on the east
wing of the first floor of the hospital
exactly a month. His appointment by the
now defunct C o n f e d e r a t e board of
directors climaxed a year of massive
changes in the almost 100 y e a r-old
hospital, changes which shook everyone
from the 78-year-old director Dr. Edgar
Galloway, to the lowest paid aide. And it
signaled a new order.
Like many other things in the state,
the new beginnings generally started
with the election of Edwin W. Edwards
as governor, but specifically they began
on a Sunday in March when a black
legislator spoke out against the status
quo of the hospital. The hospital has on
its visiting staff most of the physicians
belonging to the Shreveport Medical
Society.
Rep! Alphonse Jackson Jr. asked the
governor to appoint blacks to the board
of directors of the hospital. (Although
some 90 per cent of Confederate's
patients are black, no blacks had ever
sat on its governing board.)
Old Order Changes
The g o v e r n o r did. On Aug. 10,
Edwards named 12 b o a r d members
including three blacks. Subsequently he
named a fourth. He also selected two
women.
Harold K. Quinn, Shreveport insur-ance
executive, was put in the chair-man's
spot, replacing T. B. Lanford who
had held the post since 1956. Only three
members were renamed. The new board
became active Jan 1.
The old guard changed.
Galloway, who since 1940 had been
administrator, at various times for 22
years, offered to remain, but the board
accepted his resignation. Assistant Direc-tor
Robert C. Hall was named acting
.director and served until Yeager who
had been named the hospital's tirst
medical director, was put in the post.
Lack of black board members weren't
Jackson's only complaint.
He blasted operation of the admitting
room, saying "It appears to me we've
got that department operating independ-ently
of the total operation out there."
Waiting time in the admitting room,
the legislator said is a minimum of four
hours. "It can be up to eight hours or
10," he added.
Patients, he charged "are unheard
and unanswered . . . "
Black employes, he said "face gross
discrimination."
They are not given higher positions,
there is a lack of blacks in the upper
echelon of the hospital work force and
there is a "lack of any sensitivity on the
{[art of the immediate supervisors to the
Confederate Medical Center Director Dr. Rod Yeager
is a symbol of a new beginning for the hospital, which
is the teaching institution for the LSU Medical School
at Shreveport, the building vnder construction in the
foreground. Confederate rises in the background.
(Times Photo by John A. Moore)
civil and human rights of blacks,"
Jackson continued.
"They are not respected as full citi-zens,"
he added, explaining that superi-ors
refused to use courtesy titles (mist-er,
miss, mrs.) .
HEW Agrees
Eight months later, a jeport; issued by
Miles Schulze, branch* cHief for Contract
Compliance of the U.S. Office of Health,
Education and Welfare, agreed with
Jackson.
The report said that the most serious
problem at C o n f e d e r a t e was racial
segregation of job titles.
After meeting with Confederate offi-cials,
representatives of the State Civil
Service and Division of Hospitals and
members of the black community, HEW
officials said that the racial discrimina-tion
of job titles had resulted in blacks
being overwhelmingly placed in the
lower job categories. Only one black of
the 515 employes was in a supervisory
capacity.
The problem was so severe, the HEW
report said, that all aspects of the
employment policy must be re-examined
and reviewed in order to effect a»y
positive and meaningful change.
The report also warned about denying
traditional male jobs to women.
The report recommended an Affirma-tive
Action Program to show positive
commitment to equal employment oppor-tunity,
as well as a commitment to
eliminate all existing vestiges of discrim-ination
in employment based on race,
color, sex, religion or national origin.
Accentuating The Positive
Yeager is reluctant to discuss the past
criticisms, apparently thinking they will
reflect on him and on his fledgling
administration.
He wants to accentuate the positive.
At first he even denies knowledge of
the HEW report.
When pressed, he says, he sees no
black or white problems at Confederate.
"I am not looking for whites or blacks
or women. I am looking for bodies to fill
positions, he says, pulling out a sheet of
paper filled with "wanted positions."
"We have 21 empty registered nurses'
positions. We Heed a painter . . . we are
having a dickens of a time getting a
painter.
"We can't get clerk-typists for the
records room. We have applicants, but
you take them back and show them that
they have to get up on a ladder to pull a
record. They don't want the job," he
continues.
He promises, "we will not discrimi-nate.
We are going to fill job positions
with the most qualified people around."
But Yeager does admit that some of
the criticisms are valid, that "there are
many people in jobs who have not been
elevated for years and years."
It has nothing to do with discrimina-tion,
though.
He explains that there are people
doing Clerk 2 jobs, but classified by the
Civil Service as Clerk 1.
Their jobs must be audited and
re-evaluated by Civil Service.
Yeager has requested Civil Service
officals to come to Confederate to
perform a general audit of jobs, resulting
in a reclassification of many positions to
a fcigher status.
They are due here this month.
Although he has made no policy
statement on use of courtesy titles,
Yeager feels, and Jackson agrees, that
the situation has improved — or at any
rate is being worked on. (A part of
Yeager's philosophy for success is to
improve by example. He addresses
employes by courtesy titles and proffers
his hands upon greeting them about
specific matters).
Yeager feels that it is important that
employes be identified to patients by
wearing name tags. This will become
mandatory in the future, he said, as
security is beefed up.
For the most part, Jackson agrees
with Yeager whom he describes as a
"bright and creative young physician".
But, the legislator, adds, "we have a
long, long way to go."
Healthy Starters
Yeager returns to his office from
the operating room dressed in a white
coat over the green scrub suit of a
surgeon. He picks up a pipe and
continues the interview.
Let's talk about improvements, about
plans for the future, he says.
He speaks in terms of statistics.
Confederate had 160,000 outpatients
1971-72. That was 25,000 more than five
years ago. There were 10,000 emergency
room visits last year, as compared to
6,600 five years ago, and 23,000 patients
were admitted last year and 22,000 only
five years ago.
There were 64,000 x-ray examinations
last year compared with 50,000 five years
ago. There were 935,000 pathological
tests, a 72 per cent increase over five
years ago.
The Confederate-Northwestern S t a t e
University School of Nursing had a total
of 146 students, with 14 graduations last
year.
There were 52 radiology technician
(Continued On Page 3-C)