Med-Start Externship Fariha: Then...and Now

This is by far going to be my favorite post. One of the reasons why I loved shadowing Dr. Stewart was because he went to Wayne State for undergrad, graduate school and med school and lived in Detroit. It was so much fun to ask him all sorts of questions about how Wayne/Detroit today differ from the Wayne/Detroit of yesteryear (“back in the 1800s,” as he likes to say). Like Dr. Stewart’s son, I was born in Hutzel Hospital. Like Dr. Stewart, I lived in the same apartment building as he did during his undergrad (Sheridan Court) and on the same floor (the fourth floor). The only difference was the time.

All of the responsibilities Dr. Stewart juggled during med school deeply impressed me. Not only did he have a wife and child, but as Wayne’s policy restricted him from receiving grants from the school, he had to work 20+ hours a week at a bacteriology lab, called Second Hope on Cass, to finance his education and his son’s diaper bill. Can you imagine doing that? I think not. And this was before lectures were prerecorded and med students could watch them at 1.5 speed. All the groaning and moaning we as undergrads do (especially about the MCAT) seemed childish. And speaking of the MCAT, In Dr. Stewart’s time, the MCAT was scored on a scale of 1600; it tested the sciences and had a verbal reasoning-like section. Just a fun fact.

And look- this hallway is still the same! Well, I think it was, until about two years ago, when they moved the med students’ mailboxes. (picture taken from Dr. Stewart's yearbook- a fun read)

A story from Dr. Stewart about how Hutzel Hospital got its name:

The heroine of this story is Ms. Hutzel, a lady devoted to charitable causes. She served on the boards of many philanthropic organizations across Detroit and played an instrumental role in raising money for a variety of foundations because of the many connections she forged. She was especially involved with Woman’s Hospital, which handled the majority of the OB/GYN cases in Detroit. When Women’s Hospital looked to expand, the C.S. Mott family of Flint offered $40 million towards this project; in return, they wanted the hospital renamed Mott Hospital. Ms. Hutzel worked hard to coordinate all of the finances involved but on the very last day, when the contracts were to be signed and the deal finalized, she was sick and could not attend. During the meeting, which the Mott family attended, some person threw out a suggestion: “Let’s name the hospital after Ms. Hutzel.” Everyone sat stone still, including the Mott family. Nobody challenged that idea; it was a mark of how much respect everyone had in the room for this great lady. Another person seconded the motion, then another and another. Even with the Mott family present, the board unanimously agreed to name the hospital after Ms. Hutzel. You won’t find that story on the Hutzel Hospital website.

Let's end with some more pictures from the yearbook:

Then: