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Vital Signs

Then & Now

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from a history of Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center published circa 1987:

"The first official suggestion that the federal government might have an appropriate role to play in the effort to find a cure for cancer came from Matthew Neely, a Democratic Senator from West Virginia. As early as 1928, he introduced a bill in the Senate authorizing the National Academy of Science to investigate cancer." In the 1960s, Dr. Frank Lane, director of radiation therapy at Dartmouth, "perceived and articulated the need for a regional cancer center . . . that could serve all of rural northern New England." The National Cancer Act was finally passed in 1971.

20,000
Number of patients now cared for each year at Norris Cotton Cancer Center

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from DMS's 1902 "Circular of Information":

"Applicants for admission to [DMS] must have (a) graduated from a registered College, or (b) satisfactorily completed a full course in a registered Academy or High School, or (c) have had a preliminary education considered and accepted as fully equivalent. . . . All other candidates for admission . . . will be examined in the following subjects." Among the subjects listed were Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; Pope's Iliad; Scott's Ivanhoe; Allen's Short History of the Roman People; chemical notation; quadratic equations; plane geometry; and "the ability to translate at sight easy Latin prose."

> 4,600
Number of applicants to the DMS Class of 2010


A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the 1976 MHMH annual report:

"With the addition of a second cardiac surgeon, Dr. Jose Mijangos, the increased surgical activities so essential to full development of the cardiology program have begun. . . . A special intensive cardiac surgery unit is being constructed in the Intensive Care Unit area. . . . The new centralized Cardiopulmonary Laboratory is now fully active and is a central element to the success of cardiac surgery activities."

54
Number of beds today in DHMC's Coronary Care, Intermediate Coronary Care, and Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Units

> 5,000
Number of procedures annually in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories

A reminder of the pace of change, and of timeless truths, from the Fall 1976 issue of this magazine:

"Dr. David Frechette '70 practices family medicine in the rural Connecticut River Valley town of Woodsville, [N.H.] . . . [He] is a country doctor with a goal: to improve the health-care delivery system in one part of rural New Hampshire. . . . 'I think,' he concluded, 'that a tie with Dartmouth Medical School will be beneficial to upcountry physicians. It will keep us on our toes, so that we don't stop learning after our residencies.'" Frechette still practices at Woodsville's Cottage Hospital.

25
Number of beds today at Cottage Hospital

2
Number of Dartmouth medical students who did rotations there in 2005-06


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Dartmouth Medical SchoolDartmouth-Hitchcock Medical CenterWhite River Junction VAMCNorris Cotton Cancer CenterDartmouth College