Doctors reflect on how health care has evolved at TAMC

Medicine was quite different when Dr. Paul Hamlin became Aroostook County’s first urologist in 1966. Tobacco companies were required to put health warnings on cigarette packets for the first time. There were only 12 physicians on A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital’s active medical staff. And the care patients received in the hospital was much different than it is today.     “We didn’t have respiratory therapy or physical therapy,” said Hamlin. “Almost all of the care was done in the hospital. If a person came in for an appendectomy, we kept them in the hospital for seven days until we took the stitches out.”
CT and MRI machines hadn’t yet been invented. If physicians couldn’t make a diagnosis based on symptoms, they often chose exploratory surgery.
Medicare was brand new, and most patients paid for their medical bills out of pocket.
“People gave me stuff a lot,” added Hamlin. “I didn’t barter, because if they could pay, they would. Most people might pay a little bit at a time and eventually pay it off. Sometimes it might take a couple of years.”
Dr. Raymond Giberson, a retired surgeon who first began practicing in Presque Isle in 1954, remembers patients offering to pay with whatever they had available.
“One Saturday night I got a call to go to a place about 10 miles away to deliver a baby,” he said. “I went to the house, and the mother-to-be hadn’t seen a doctor up until that time. I delivered the baby. They said ‘doctor, we don’t have any money, but would you like a puppy?’ I thought, ‘Well, I’ve been away all night, and if I bring a pup home and nothing else, I better not go home.’ ”
Most physicians had private practices, and patients could usually contact their doctor at any time of the day or night. Emergency room coverage was provided by all members of the medical staff. Since there were only a dozen physicians in town, the community got to know the doctors quite well. It was difficult for some patients to get to the doctor’s office or hospital in the winter, particularly those who lived in rural areas.
“I remember one time on a Sunday morning I got a call to go to a house and deliver a baby, and Bea (a nurse) went with me,” added Giberson. “We had to leave the car by the road and walk 500 yards or so through the snow. The woman had a prolapsed cord, and I couldn’t deal with that in the woods. So we put her on the sled and brought her back to the hospital.”
Much has changed since Dr. Hamlin and Dr. Giberson started practicing medicine in Aroostook County. Doctors rarely make house calls, and advances in technology have enhanced the capabilities of medicine. Improvements continue to be made at a fast pace. A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital, a small community hospital when it was built 50 years ago, now offers some of the most advanced technology available anywhere, like a 64-slice CT scanner used to quickly diagnose illnesses and a linear accelerator for cancer treatment.
It’s also easier for patients to quickly and easily access medical resources. Information about any disease or condition imaginable is available in a matter of seconds on the Internet. Many rural communities have emergency rooms with advanced diagnostic equipment available 24 hours a day. And hospitals all over the country are working to make healthcare even more convenient. The Aroostook Medical Center, for example, recently opened a walk-in care clinic at North Street Healthcare for the treatment of minor medical concerns like colds, sprains and ear infections. The new clinic is another option for people looking for fast, affordable care right near the center of town.
According to Dr. Giberson, medical capabilities will continue to improve, but a greater focus will be placed on keeping people healthy so serious health problems can be avoided as much as possible.
“I think there will be steady improvements in diagnosis, treatment and prevention. That to me would be the big thing in medicine, to prevent things before they get started,” said Giberson.
Dr. Hamlin was born in Milo. He attended Tufts Medical School, the University of Vermont, and served as a flight surgeon in the Air Force for three years. He retired from his practice in 1993 and worked for TAMC in an administrative role until 1997.
Dr. Giberson began practicing in Presque Isle in 1954. He was a general surgeon, but like many specialists, he handled all kinds of medical needs, including delivering babies. Dr. Giberson has been retired from his surgical practice for 25 years. He grew up in New Brunswick and currently has a 2,000 acre tree farm near Bath.