Evening star., 1955-09-18
VIRGINIA.:
BY ALEX r. PRESTON

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A few days ago . news dis
patch told Of q doctor who
found q place to practice In
rural Appomattox. Va.
He happens to be . Negro.
And he happens to be the first
9of his race to use the place
ssi1ent services Of the Virginia
Council on Health and Medi-
eai Care.
All Of which serves as q re-
nainder Of the fact that this
idea Of providing medical serv-
Ices to rural areas was spear
headed BY q man from nearby
Virginia whose district is one
Of the most highly urbanized
sections Of the State.
When Charles r. Fenwick Of
Arlington first went to the
House Of Delegates In 1910. he
introduced what since has
come to be known as the
Country Doctor Bill"
At that time, the average
rural physician was 6S years
old. Many doctors were getting
ready to retire. But most i'm
portant was the fact that many
rural areas had no doctors at
all.
$500 Scholarships
Al an incentive for more
young medical school graduates
to establish their practice in
areas needing their services
most, Mr.. Fenwick sponsored
legislation providing for eight
State-sponsored scholarships,
each worth $500.
They were to be divided
equally between the two lead
ing medical schools-the Uni
versity Of Virginia and the
Medical College Of Virginia.
In return for each years
scholarship accepted. the medi-
cal student would agree to
serve a year in any rural area
of the State designated by the
Health Department.
Although the freshman leg
islator failed to get the bill
passed during his flrst session.
the idea was proved sound
when the Legislature adopted
his plan two years later.
Virginia thus became the
first State to adopt the schol-
arship system for providing
more country doctors" The
program has been continued
and expanded and since Mr..
Fenwick's election to the State
Senate In 1945, he has been
instrumental in extending 1t
into the fields Of dentistry and
nursing. The State now pro-
vides a. doctors scholarships
worth $1,000 each for whites
and Negroes every year.
Out of these original seeds
has grown the placement pro-
gram Of the Virginia Council
on Health and Medical Care.
It has located some l20 doc
tors In Virginia, most Of them
In rural areas.
West indion Is Named
The latest among them is
DR.. Franklyn Jones, Q native
Of the British West Indies. He
is the Negro who was given .
place to practice at Appomat-
tox. DR.. Jones learned Of the
need Of q Negro physicians
services there through o
nephew who Is q student at
Hampton Institute.
The fact that DR.. Jones Is
not yet q citizen Of this coun-
try posed the problem Of Ii
censing him to practice In the
State. But the council came to
his aid by helping him obtain
o temporary license until he
can take the regular examina-
ton scheduled for December.
DR.. Jones, incidentally, Is the
second physician the Council
on Health and Medical Care
has helped provide for APP
pomattox. The other IL DR..
Stanley Carlton Boyce who re-
placed the late DR.. David A.
Christian, III. DR.. Christian
was fatally shot on q night
time emergency call last Feb
ruary.
The council does more than
place recently-graduated doc
tors or physicians from outside
the State. It helps relocate
those who. for one reason or
another. feel they want to