Page 26 - Delaware Medical Journal - October 2016
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A TEAM EFFORT
Well into the 1970s, Beebe’s physicians routinely handled a variety of cases. Dr. James Beebe Jr., for instance, delivered babies, as did Dr. Ulo Ware, an anesthesiologist. “We had to do practically everything,” said Dr. Bhaskar S. Palekar, who came to Lewes in 1977. “I had to do neurology. I had to do spinal taps. You name it, and we had to do it in those days.”
Although he was an internist, Palekar handled pacemaker procedures and read the results of Holter monitors and stress tests. For nearly 20 years, Dr. Ramachandra Hosmane, who joined Beebe in 1978, was the only urologist. He was on call every day unless he was on vacation.
“It was the first time the drug, which dissolves clots, was used in the United States ... we put Beebe’s name on
the map — on the same page as Cambridge and Harvard.”
But the work was gratifying, said Dr. Anis K. Saliba, who was
time,” he said. “It’s a type of pioneering. You feel happiness with 1967 on a heart attack patient. He also removed a bullet from a patient’s left ventricle.
All the physicians took turns covering the emergency department, which in the 1950s and early 1960s was eventful on Saturday
Accidents involving farm machinery were common. Surf accidents increased as the local economy focused more on Dr. James Beebe Sr.’s grandson. “It almost killed me.”
Dr. Marvel, who has been the chief of staff and chief of surgery,
hired. The number of procedures has rapidly increased. In 2005,
orthopaedic surgeons carried out 350 knee replacements, 200 hip replacements, and 180 spinal surgeries at Beebe. In 2015,
the number of procedures soared to 500 knee surgeries, 400 hip procedures, and 400 spinal surgeries. Beebe also offers ankle and shoulder surgeries. Dr. Marvel has twice served as President of the Medical Society of Delaware. In 2009, Beebe named the orthopedics wing for him.
Like many of the physicians who joined Beebe when it was still a small community hospital, Dr. Marvel helped shape the services to meet the needs in Beebe’s rapidly growing service area. A surgeon in a MASH unit during the Vietnam War, he was active in the formation of the statewide trauma care system. Beebe is a Level III Trauma Center.
Endocrinologist Dr. Mansour Saberi, who joined Beebe in 1976, spearheaded the initiative to start a wound care and diabetes management program in 1998. Today, Beebe Healthcare Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine is a 15-person department on the Beebe Health Campus. Wound healing modalities include Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
TAKING BEEBE TO NEW HEIGHTS
As medicine became more complex, the leaders at Beebe actively recruited specialists to improve existing services. The cardiology department is a prime example. Beebe Hospital opened a two-bed
In 1980, Dr. Habib Bolourchi and Dr. Pravin Gohel came on board to modernize the department. Dr. Gohel began visiting cardiac rehabilitation facilities in major cities to develop a protocol, which was implemented in 1982. In 2003, Beebe
the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Now patients can choose between traditional cardiac rehabilitation and the Ornish Reversal Program, a lifestyle-change program that focuses on nutrition, exercise, the Delmarva Peninsula to offer the Ornish program.
While adding new equipment and services, the cardiology department also contributed to cutting-edge research. In the early 1980s, the hospital participated in the International Studies of Infarct Survival (ISIS), random controlled trials for thrombolytic
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Del Med J | October 2016 | Vol. 88 | No. 10
