RIP Ron Wallace, a mainstay of the Borden Institute

The history of military medicine lost a member of the community this past week. Ron Wallace will not be known to most of you, but he was a mainstay of the US Army's Borden Institute's publishing, including many history of military medicine titles.

The friends and coworkers of Ronald Eugene Wallace mourn his passing last week. Ron, a former US Air Force master sergeant (and then long-time first sergeant), died in a fire in his home in Maryland. During the same week, the US Government Printing Office was praising the Borden's books in two blog posts - here and here.

I personally knew Ron when I worked at the National Museum of Health and Medicine and they published one of our exhibit catalogs, a history of the Walter Reed Medical Center, and a book on the last days of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. At the same time, they were doing the Textbooks of Military Medicine, books with current information on how to treat the injuries the military was suffering from in our ongoing wars. Ron always stood ramrod straight, was generous to a fault, and was garrulous. It was always a pleasure to walk down the hill and into the old building and run into him. In my head, although it hasn't been true for 9 years, he's still standing in the former nursing school, waiting to hand out the latest book.

Senior Layout Editor Douglas Wise remembers Ron:

Before his retirement last July, Ron spent 27 years working at Borden Institute, joining in 1992 as the administrator and office manager. His name rarely made it into the books, but almost 70 books on military medicine stand as tribute to his efforts making sure those whose names do appear could do their jobs with as little difficulty or obstacle as he could prevent. He helped build a library of books that resides in the Pentagon, the White House, and in the pocket of every soldier who goes through training today.

If you met Ron even once, then you know you met him and you've heard his stories. If you met Ron a second or third time then you heard those stories again, as well as some new ones. You could work with him for eighteen years and still get new stories out of him in addition to those stories you heard retold... weekly.

Ron's friendly and outgoing nature made him the face of Borden Institute. He was the first person you saw when you came to the office, he was out making friends with everyone who came to our exhibits, personally coaxing paperwork through the military bureaucracy faster than anyone else, and making sure that the brass, all the way up to the Surgeon General of the Army, knew who we were. One could (and did) find themselves on jury duty, on the subway, in a gathering of complete strangers, and find someone there who knew Ron Wallace.

And he took each person he met as their own person. There was no prejudging someone based on their accent, how much melanin they have in their skin, their views on the afterlife, or office gossip. If Ron took a disliking to you then you can be sure it was because of something you actually said or did.
 
It was a loss to Borden and the US military as a whole when Ron retired and a greater loss to our hearts and lives to learn of his passing.

Dr. Dave Lounsbury, COL, USA (ret.) recalls:

He and Lorraine Davis were the glue that held the Borden Institute together. Lorraine as Managing Editor kept track of books developing in the pipeline. Ron as Administrative Chief (I swear I don't think I ever learned what his title actually was) was absolutely superb at managing our budget. He seemed to know just about everyone at the budget offices of OTSG (US Army Office of the Surgeon General) and WRAMC (Walter Reed Army Medical Center). He protected the budget like it was his child. Borden was always something of a bastard child in the AMEDD (US Army Medical Department). The budget was forever at or near the chopping block. But time & time again, with his enormously reassuring (to me) "Don't worry. Let me handle this," Ron would salvage our financial survival. Not a few times, instead of a cut we got an increase! He was instrumental at increasing our staff. He finessed this entirely on his own. Lorraine and I might kibitz but he did it alone -- kept our books straight, excelled at every budget review, justified our purpose ... I marveled at his style.

He listened to most of the relentless gossip of the BI but I can't say I ever knew him to join it. Not his thing. Ron didn't speak ill of his colleagues. Now & then he'd grumble -- appropriately -- about one or another, but he never slammed them. Not a few times, I can confess, I was not so temperate or charitable -- furious at one or another staff member. Ron would listen, but he didn't join in. That reserve of his often gave me a bit of pause in my judgements once I calmed down. I valued him. Goodness knows he could talk your ear off, for hours at a time. But it was never vindictive stuff, always harmless, just tales of yore ... himself usually the hero. He was very slow to anger. But when he did boil over -- a truly rare occurrence -- the occasion invariably warranted it. I can only recall two of these.

He was thoroughly honest. He was thoroughly respectful. He came to work convinced that the what the Borden Inst produced was sui generis and absolutely worth preserving. No visitor could come by and then get away without being showered with books & info regarding what we published.

He had a finely tuned and curious ability to transfer allegiance such as I had never encountered before or since. One day my predecessor was the Director and Ron directed his attention solely toward that individual --even though he was totally aware that the fellow had been sacked. The next day I was in charge and, snap-of-a-finger, Ron was fully on board. I couldn't help notice this. Normally it might take a week or a month to make these transitions. Ron did so instantaneously. Impossible not to notice. I pointed it out to him one day long after I had settled in. It was a compliment to him. He simply shrugged.Of course, four or so years later it was my turn to transition out. Sure enough: though I stayed on to complete a couple of works in progress, there was no mistaking his redirection of attention and duties. I wasn't the boss anymore.My ego survived and we stayed close friends.

Ron, and Lorraine, did most of the work. I got all the credit.

He was a good man -- to Nancy, to his daughter, to his job, to his country.

The Homegoing Service for Ron will be held at Vaughn Green Funeral Services, 8728 Liberty Road,  Randallstown MD 21133. You may visit their website for details. On Monday, February 3rd from 4pm to 8pm there will be a Public Viewing and Tuesday February 4th, the wake begins at 10am, the funeral begins at 10:30 am. 

PR: BORDEN INSTITUTE RELEASES CARE OF THE COMBAT AMPUTEE

NEWS RELEASE

___________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

 Narvin Gray, 202-356-1012 x 2-6110 or

 narvin.gray@amedd.army.mil

 

Book Covers Comprehensive Treatment of Service Members with Limb Amputations

Borden Institute Releases Care of the Combat Amputee

 

 

Washington, DC – Focusing on the critical issue of multifaceted care for our combat veterans with major limb amputations and polytrauma, the Borden Institute has released Care of the Combat Amputee, the latest volume in the Textbooks of Military Medicine series.

This book provides a significant update to the field of rehabilitation, with comprehensive coverage of emerging approaches, techniques, and technologies for amputee care. “Despite more destructive weapons and horrific wounds, the men and women of Military Medicine, as a whole, have continuously adapted to changing requirements and have developed comprehensive rehabilitative methods. This approach, combined with the goal of restoring our wounded service members to the highest possible functional level, is resulting in the optimal reintegration of our wounded Warriors,” according to Lieutenant General Eric B. Schoomaker, Surgeon General of the US Army.

Written by experts in the military, Veterans Administration, and private sector—with specialty editing by Colonel Paul Pasquina (US Army Medical Corps) and Dr Rory Cooper (VA; University of Pittsburg)—the publication addresses aspects of combat amputee care ranging from surgical techniques to long-term care, polytrauma and comorbidities such as traumatic brain injury and burns, pain management, psychological issues, physical and occupational therapy, VA benefits, prosthetics and adaptive technologies, sports and recreational opportunities, and return to duty and vocational rehabilitation. The book will serve as an essential resource for providers involved in amputee care, as well as service members and veterans with major limb amputations.

            Conceived in 1987, the Borden Institute, under the Army Surgeon General, publishes the Textbooks of Military Medicine. Each book is a comprehensive subject reference on the art and science of military medicine, extensively illustrated, and written to integrate lessons learned in past wars with current principles and practices of military medicine.

            The Borden Institute offers volumes in hardback, as well as on its Web site and on CD-ROM.

For more information on the Borden Institute and how to order the publications, visit the organization online at www.bordeninstitute.army.mil.

###

 

War Surgery book wins award

Dave Lounsbury one of the editors and authors wrote to me today saying:

I recv'd a letter today informing me that "War Surgery in Afghanistan & Iraq: A Series of Cases, 2003-2007" has won a national book award.

The American Medical Writers Association in Rockville, Maryland announces that "War Surgery": "is the winner of the distinguished 2009 AMWA Medical Book Award. AMWA's annual book awards "were established more than 30 years ago to recognize the very best in ... non-fictional medical writing." The textbook was "1 of 18 submitted ... and was evaluated by a panel of 4 judges."

The award will be formally presented in October in Dallas at the AMWA's 69th Annual Conference ... which may explain why notice of this award is not presently noted on its website www.amwa.org.

[For the record, the textbook was also nominated last spring for a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award, but in the end was not selected.]

The book has received uniformly favorable reviews from deployed medical officers (British & American) and in both lay (NYT, New York Review of Books, and The Economist) and peer-referenced (JAMA, NEJM, and Environmental & Wilderness Medicine, the journal of the Wilderness Medical Society) literature, as well as in the open media (BBC, NPR).

This is an excellent book, in the grand tradition of military medical publications, dating back to the Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. You can download the whole thing for free at the link above, or order the book from the Government Printing Office.

CSI: Borden Institute

Borden Institute book designer Doug wrote to me today:

We weren't able to get a definite date from the network, but either tonight or next Thursday "CSI - Crime Scene Investigations" will be using one of our books in an episode. Looking at the episode summaries it looks like tonight may be the night.

Lawrence Fishburn and another doctor are s upposed to be consultingwith our "Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare" book in an effort to deal with an outbreak caused by a patient receiving a transplant of an infected organ.

You can watch the broadcast tonight on CBS at 9:00 (8 Central and Mountain) or you can go out to the website http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/video/ later and watch the episode "The Gone Dead Train."

New Walter Reed hospital photo book by Archives staff

The Museum’s Archives staff supported the publication of these two new books from the Borden Institute that feature the history of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. See the details and links below for more information.

1) Walter Reed Army Medical Center Centennial: A Pictorial History – “A profusely illustrated history covering the full range of WRAMC’s activities in service to the Army and the Nation.” Hardbound. Over half of the photographs are from the Museum’s collections, and Museum archivist Kathleen Stocker was the photographer for some of the views of the buildings of the current campus.

· S/N: 008-000-01020-0

· Price: $35.00

· Link: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=008-000-01020-0

2) Borden’s Dream – “An engaging history-memoir covering WRAMC’s early history, filled with stories about the people and events that shaped its evolution as an institution.” Hardbound.

· S/N: 008-023-00135-9

· Price: $55.00

· Link: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=008-023-00135-9

We helped find replacement photographs for some of the missing images in the typescript copy of Borden's Dream.

A display is in the hospital lobby and May 1.

New books from the Borden Institute

Our friends at the Borden Institute have two new books out, and the first has quite a few photos from our collection:

A History of Dentistry in the US Army to World War II (2008) - a detailed history of the development of military dentistry in the United States, from beginnings in the early 17th century, through the professionalization of dentistry in the 19th century, dental care on both sides of the Civil War, the establishment of the US Army Dental Corps in 1909, and the expansion of the Corps through World War I and afterward, to the verge of the Second World War.

Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - a comprehensive source of the information available on chemical agents, this book will increase the level of preparedness and response capability of military and civilian practitioners responsible for chemical casualty care. Includes detailed explanations of chemical detectors and protection equipment, diagnosis, decontamination techniques, established and emerging countermeasures, and therapy techniques, as well as the history of chemical warfare and casualty management.

A Day in the Life....

Today was a really typical day with no excitement but a pretty good feeling of accomplishment at crossing things off my List. I basically worked on two things. The first was performing QA (quality assurance) on several curatorial log books that we've sent for scanning. Each one comes back in both JPG and PDF formats and I have to look at both for the QA. Not every single page, but enough to know the scans are up to snuff. You might wonder why I have to look at both formats. That's because when we first started scanning books the jpegs came back in whatever lovely color they actually had, but the PDFs inexplicably were in grayscale. I don't know that we ever figured out how or why, and they were fixed, but now I look at both. By the way, these books will eventually be uploaded to the Internet Archive. In my spare time.

The other project of the day had to do with a new book published by the Borden Institute, the publishing arm of the Army Medical Department and School. It's called War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq: a Series of Cases 2003-2007. We received a couple of discs of the pictures used in the book and while waiting for huge PDFs of the books I talked about above to load, I matched the loosely identified images from the discs to the ones in the book. I'm making a spreadsheet of captions for all of the pictures that will be uploaded, along with the images, into our (still internal) database as part of our Medical Illustration Service Library.

What I find compelling about this book, aside from the miracles the docs over there are working on our soldiers, is that it's fulfilling a mission much like the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion did at the time of the Civil War; it's a valuable teaching tool. As Dr. David Lounsbury, one of the three authors, said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune, "The average Joe Surgeon, civilian or military, has never seen this stuff... "It's a shocking, heart-stopping, eye-opening kind of thing. And they need to see this on the plane before they get there, because there's a learning curve to this."

Exciting new book by one of our collaborators

Our colleagues at the Borden Institute on Walter Reed AMC recently came out with a new book. We didn't help on this one, but we are collaborating on an illustrated history of Walter Reed AMC. I was speaking to a friend who's an historian of medicine today and he was marveling at how much historical information needed to be included in this volume.

Book Explores Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare

BORDEN INSTITUTE RELEASES MEDICAL ASPECTS OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

Washington, DC - Reflecting the critical threat posed by biological warfare and terrorism, the Borden Institute has released Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare, the latest volume in the Textbooks of Military Medicine series.

This book is an update of the previous edition of Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare, published in 1997. "The need for a revised version of this work has never been greater. A decade later, the complexity of the threat has increased beyond the boundaries of state-sponsored programs and to the terrorist use of novel pathogens," according to Colonel George W. Korch, MS, US Army, Commander, US Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. "The continued threat of biological weapons dictates that all Department of Defense medical personnel become conversant with state-of-the-art treatment for biological casualties. What may have been perceived merely as useful information in the past is now a requirement for all medical providers."

Major General Gale S. Pollock, while serving as the acting surgeon general, recently said that "we must counter this threat with vigilance and maximize our response to attack with our best medical practices to identify agents involved, minimize casualties, and expedite the treatment of survivors."

Grounded in a historical perspective, Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare addresses weaponization of biological agents, categorizing potential agents as food, waterborne, or agricultural agents or toxins, and discusses their respective epidemiology. Descriptions of individual agents and the illnesses induced include recent advances in biomedical knowledge. The authors present familiar (anthrax, plague, smallpox) and less often discussed (alphaviruses, staphylococcal enterotoxins) biotoxins and explain methods for early agent identification. To
maximize understanding, authors present case studies and research on successful management practices, treatments, and antidotes.

Topics covered by the book include the history of biological weapons; food, waterborne, and agricultural diseases; epidemiology of biowarfare and bioterrorism; organisms and toxins; laboratory identification; consequence management; medical management of biological casualties; countermeasures; biosafety; ethical and legal considerations in biodefense research; and emerging infectious diseases.

Conceived in 1987, the Borden Institute, under the Army Surgeon General, publishes the Textbooks of Military Medicine. Each book is a comprehensive subject reference on the art and science of military medicine, extensively illustrated, and written to integrate lessons learned in past wars with current principles and practices of military medicine.

The Borden Institute offers volumes in hardback, as well as on its website and on CD-ROM.

For more information on the Borden Institute and how to order the publications, visit the organization online at www.bordeninstitute.army.mil.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ronald Wallace, 202-782-4329 or
ronald.wallace @na.amedd.army.mil