Helen Spendlove Presentation

Presentation by Helen Spendlove about Vernal doctors to the Uintah County Historical Society. Topics include: Reading medical journals; Assisting her husband, Dr. Ray Spenlove, in making house calls; The history of doctors and hospitals in the Uintah Basin; Progression from the use of a portable x-ray machine to modern radiology; Progression from doctor's bag and house calls to EMTs, Paramedics, and ambulances; Progression from payments in household goods to health insurance; Progression from planning family vacations around OB patient due dates to having a rotation of on-call doctors; Change from scrubbing and sterilizing surgical instruments to disposable instrument use; Change from general practice doctors and family appointments to specialized care and individual appointments and the loss of close doctor/patient relationships that goes with the change; The first Uintah Basin doctor arriving in 1883 and practicing medicine until he was nearly 102 years old; Different doctors who came to Uintah Basin and how very few stayed because of the distance, poor road conditions, insufficient income, and lack of hospital; A diphtheria epidemic and the arrival of a young doctor from Denver with an antitoxin; The first female doctor, Dr. Maude Garrett O'Donnell; Doctors that came with the CCC Camp; People's memories about different doctors who cared for them; and tributes that Dr. Ray Spenlove wrote about fellow doctors.