Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-04
BY John McKelwoy

; On a hot day last July a group
of people gathered beneath that
Z big, wide and rusty-red building
in Bethesda called the Clinical
Center Of the National Institutes
of Health.
AS flags waved and q military
band played, they gazed UP and
up at the building built at a
cost of $64 million and designed
for sick people as well as those
fascinated by what ails the sick.
After a series Of speeches, a
ribbon was cut and the place was
officially open.
The pomp, the flags, the band
and the big thing sitting there
all alone and untried. made the
ceremony like the launching Of a
great ship-the biggest ever
built. She was Allied with the
I, latest equipment; she had a
select crew and a select list Of
passengers. Great things were
expected of her.
. But, as in all launchings, there
was some uncertainty: Maybe
the big leviathan would slide
proudly down the ways and then
just sink.
If it had, they would have
called the greatest experiment
ever launched by the Public
Health Service-the one that
didn't work.
But the new ship made it.
Marks First Birthday.
Tuesday, the Clinical Center
completes a years shakedoWI
cruise with surprising success.
She even set a speed record.
Yet last year -.
For one thing, nothing quite
like the center had ever been
attempted on such a scale. It's
purpose was to close q gap exist.
ing In the business Of medical
research between the scientist
cooped up In his laboratory and
the man sick in bed. Both were
missing what the other could
supply. So the architects de-
signed space for 500 beds and
room for 1000 laboratories.
The sick man would be moved
In right beside, if not under, the
microscope. With that done,
the Clinical Center could be
considered headquarters Of a
massive investigation into the
big killers Of the day like heart
disease, cancer and the chronic,
costly ailments like arthritis,
mental illness and epilepsy.
On paper it looked fine.
But to make the big thing run
required a crew-a crew Of top
notch doctors and scientists.
The National Institutes of
Health, composed of scientific
Institutes engaged in medical re-
search, already had a good core
of men, eager to get into the
Clinical Center. But more men
were needed. Public Health Of
ficials knew that to get more
men to sign aboard the Clinical
Center an atmosphere Of scien-
tific freedom would have to be
maintained. This was the bait
offered-not a raise in pay. To
keep that freedom was another
question.
Experts From Medical Centers.
To get the crew, center offi4
Gals had to round the men up
without bringing on criticism
from private universities and
medical centers who might
charge wholesale robbery-rob-
berry of their men Of science.
their men with ideas.
The doubt on launching day
could also be traced to another
thing. The word Government"
was there in big letters on the
side of the ship. It was an uiiSA
avoidable stigma. How would
the medical profession take it?
The same word had sunk other
ships.
OF course, the biggest question
mark was over the sick man
the passenger. For once it looked
like he had a chance to really
give something. He'd be con-
tributing his condition to re-
search part of the team
working for longer. happier lives
for all.
But would he come? Would he
take part? The only acceptable
way to find him was to ask his
personal physician or his hos
pital to turn him over. And If
that worked, and there was
plenty to worry about along
those lines, would he stay put?
Maybe he'd get fed up with long
haired scientists and walk out.
With him would go thousands
Of dollars sunk In project to
which he meant so much.
But the Center made it.
Center Running Smoothly.
Today, very much afioat, she
Is running smoothly. She's not
quite finished. There have been
labor strikes and workers still
appear in the halls tightening
up this or that. A man with an
electric drill IS vibrating some
where down. deep in the hull.
When she set out last July, she
started very, slow. There were
slight bitches. A surgeon had to
go out to a hardware store to
pick up a missing gimrnick to
get his cleaning equipment
functioning. A dietician rushed
out and bought bread at q gro
Gerry store when her supply failed
to arrive from a dealer. The
pharmacist. despite his modern,
sprawling pharmacy. dropped
into a corner drugstore to COM
plete his stock.
The crew of the Clinical Gen.