UMC Health System - Physician Notes

Memories of a STARTING A HOSPITAL FROM SCRATCH IS A HERCULEAN TASK. FEW KNOW THAT BET TER THAN ONE OF THE PHYSICIANS WHO HELPED LAUNCH UMC HEALTH SYSTEM 40 YEARS AGO. HUMBLE IN 1977, Gabor B. Racz, M.D., D.A.B.A., A.B.P.M., moved to West Texas to become the first chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, as well as to organize an anesthesiology service at the soon-to-open county hospital, UMC. "We had to think about and obtain everything we needed to open the hospital — every kind of needle, syringe and medication," said Dr. Racz, who is now professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Anesthesiology at Texas Tech. "e hospital started out as a two-story building, and now it's an enormous complex." INGENUITY BY NECESSITY Dr. Racz wore many hats in the early days of UMC. He was the first chair of the medical practice, and he led the committee that vetted and identified the hospital's first chief of surgery. He was also responsible for establishing the Intensive Care Unit and an interventional pain service. One of his most vivid memories is of the hospital's first ever surgical case, an orthopaedic procedure that J. Ted Hartman, M.D., performed in early 1978. "At first, we didn't have a screwdriver, but I found one with a yellow handle and we put it through the autoclave to sterilize it," Dr. Racz said. "When Dr. Hartman tried to remove a screw from the patient's hip, the screwdriver handle started spinning. He got the job done, though, and the patient did well after surgery. at's one of the many memories I have of working with the high-quality people at UMC over the years." REMEMBERING A PIONEER OF MEDICINE IN OUR REGION The West Texas medical community mourns the loss of orthopaedic surgeon J. Ted Hartman, M.D., who passed away in February at the age of 92. In the late 1970s, while serving as chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Chicago's Cook County Hospital, the Louisiana native and World War II veteran accepted an invitation to advise Texas Tech University on the establishment of a medical school. He was instrumental in the early history of UMC Health System, where he served as chair of orthopaedics and performed the hospital's first surgery. During four decades in Lubbock, he served as chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center and spent seven years as dean of the university's school of medicine. BEGINNING 6 PHYSICIAN NOTES /// SPRING 2018

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