Mildred Stalhman and Jessica Bratt

00:05 My name is Jessica Bratt. I am 35 years old today is April 22nd 2015.

00:14 I'm here in Nashville, Tennessee at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

00:19 And I am a graduate student at Vanderbilt and a pediatric chaplain and I'm here today with dr. Mildred. Stalhman. She's 92 +.

00:32 We're excited to be here together.

00:36 So, dr. Stallman, we're sitting just a stone's throw from all of the buildings where you have spent decades teaching and surveying and in clinical practice. What is it like to be back here on campus?

00:52 Familiar

00:56 Orisa, you know thinking about $4 seventy are there certain events that come to mind when you when you see a place like Medical Center North?

01:08 I think too many really. I'll just specific ones.

01:20 Well recently. I listen to a lecture that you gave about 6 years ago here at the medical center. And you were talking about the needs of children and how to how to prevent preterm births and how so many big social problems have yet to be tackled and I really liked a quote you said from Dietrich Bonhoeffer the test of morality of a society is what it does for its children.

01:48 I agree with that and I was really grateful that you lifted that up.

01:52 And you also said the most dangerous place for children to grow up in America is the intersection of poverty and race. That's what you said. Could you say more about that?

02:08 I think it's obvious.

02:13 Those are two of the most prominent social problems within a group of people and for children.

02:24 When you link song and it becomes

02:30 A real potential handicap for for normal development and growth

02:40 How do you think our government and our healthcare system has done over the decades at addressing those things and improving the lives of children and mothers at risk.

02:52 I think it's done fairly. Well, it's not anywhere near perfect, but it's done fairly well.

03:03 7

03:05 They're obvious discrepancy to sit up on your nose.

03:12 Necessarily the best thing sit go on with children, but

03:18 I've lived in all the countries in and I've seen how they manage their child health and I think I'll child health issue at least tries to do the very best it can that's right after medical school and your training you spent a year in Sweden and you mentioned that before that your observations there about child health really impacted you when you came back here what kinds of things to do see there or observe at that time? She left a long time ago the late forties right for newborns, right? And and they did say they are always have had a good very good strong.

04:05 Obstetric and neonatal program throughout Joss Whedon show that it was a good place to take training. Yeah, and was it the state Universal Health Care? They're already at that time you write. Oh, yeah, your other training years were in Ohio and at Boston Children's and we've talked about how we have Boston Children's in common cuz I was a chaplain there. How did you like your time in Boston?

04:35 I enjoyed Boston Boston Children's issue is a very strong academic atmosphere.

04:46 Maybe not the most fun place you ever went to what what a very good Training, please.

04:56 I want of unrelated thrilled with Boston. I like to Cleveland and surprisingly also.

05:10 What I was in Internal Medicine are not in Pediatrics, right?

05:19 I remember you saying in Boston you didn't like having to move your car so much when it snowed but every morning.

05:27 So you went through years of training and then you came here and you and turn have trained so many residents and fellows over the years. Did you enjoy that teaching that like teaching?

05:41 And and and I think it's been a real.

05:46 Privileged to have young people

05:50 Wish you all the time because I keep you asking question. Right? Right, not not giving answer answer the questions with him right there kind of seeing the frontiers of what are the other questions were there times when that was really challenging to to train young doctors. Oh, I think it always is

06:15 Because you know they are.

06:19 Say I come from many different backgrounds and there are smart. They wouldn't be there if they weren't intelligent and write and had their own ideas about things and then not always run the same way as you do or anybody else's.

06:39 So let's go back to your medical school years you finished here at Vanderbilt Medical School in 1946. Is that right? And you had graduated from the University and 1943. Is that okay was one of those periods of time when we went year-round. Oh, okay. We went all year long and so we had four years of medical school in 3 academic policy at for academic. You should 300K. So that's it was an accelerated Pace. Yeah, and that was because of the war. I see. Okay. I printed a copy here of your graduating class picture on your medical school class 1946 girls three girls.

07:26 Try ha.

07:28 What else stands out in that picture to you some familiar faces? I'm sure.

07:35 You mentioned that one of your female classmates lived at your mother's home you and your mother and then she were roommates. What was that like that you mentioned you and she would study together and the men would want to come over and study with you cuz you had all the answers.

07:54 There's a twinkle in your eye there that plus the fact that my mother brought out coffee and cold drinks and sandwiches about good night after long study session with great regularity.

08:15 Oh being one of the few women in your class was was gender a big issue at the time. Was there a lot of pushback or did people respect that you were there?

08:26 I want a big deal.

08:31 At least I did I didn't find it. So and one of my classmates lived in our family and so we were close friends and we started together and it was a I thought very useful to have somebody.

08:50 Just started where instead of just sit there and read the book yourself but to have some kind of back and forth.

09:00 Interchange while you were studying was a very very useful to me Italy.

09:08 I'm curious to wear their faculty or older Physicians who were mentors to you people who had a big influence on you. Can you tell us about any of them?

09:22 I'm blind at this point. I can barely see who they are.

09:27 I mentioned somebody in a few things you've written Doctor Christian that got their Christian. I don't know if he was at Vanderbilt, but somebody you've mentioned who had an influence on you.

09:43 Here's another one from yeah. I can't she can't read without my glasses. All right. I don't know where my glasses are. You are front-and-center. I was when you came back in and you were working here. Did you know that you wanted to come back to Vanderbilt when your training was done?

10:06 Well, I think I did because I sit home and I knew all the Medical Faculty hearing but I enjoyed my time away in Boston and Cleveland and in shock home and I enjoyed all over so totally different every one of those places was totally different and also extremely different from hear what it was.

10:34 I saw it a good experience.

10:37 So you really have made such a big mark on neonatology and care of preterm infants. What was that? Like in those early days of trying to figure out how to ventilate preemies and care for them when they really weren't many options.

10:56 Well

10:57 You did the best you could which was not always.

11:07 I don't know. I think we did pretty well for the time and effort.

11:19 We're headed that board the one what's going on in there. Not the one in a such thing is neonatology. It's at 4. Right, right. It was all brand new. Yeah. So what gave you the courage to to try something that had never been tried before and see how it went.

11:37 I worked a lot with sheep. Yes. Let's talk about with sheep. In fact, there's a picture here of you with sheep from the medical center North Courtyard that used to be there. Now been filled then here's another one of you do a procedure on a lamb we were cheap. And so we knew exactly how far in gestation they were and then we would deliver them by cesarean section afraid and and

12:13 Use the best kinds of resuscitation and ventilation that we could at various gestational ages, but you couldn't do in a baby. All right.

12:28 Just you know, try something very new. We did a lot of.

12:36 Of new things with the wizard Theodore sheep, and I'm needing a Rashid.

12:42 That helped us.

12:47 You know how to prepare to do it on humans. You mentioned to that where the Sheep were you could see it from the Pediatric Clinic window so that I could watch the Sheep while they were wise to apply for it. I can't imagine it. They were so grateful and look at it. So it's running I shave. I also wanted to ask you about the early days of neonatal transport before there was EMS you and Cheryl major and others help start the transport program because you are finding that the infants weren't even making it here. Is it true that that was a bread truck or a milk truck. Was that a bread truck or a milk truck or something? I think it was a bread truck that interested in him an ambulance that was converted into an ambulance. I don't remember that went. Okay, but I think it was originally was we had a bread truck how I'm too young to remember a time when there wasn't EMS that's amazing, but that must have made so

13:47 The difference. Oh, well, you had to have a good transportion. Right, right.

13:54 I'm curious. What what Legacy do you hope that you've left here at Vanderbilt? I mean there are buildings named after you in a department named after you what do you hope that your legacy is?

14:11 Don't accept anything.

14:14 Not till you know, what's right?

14:18 What does that mean to you? What does that mean to you?

14:23 Well, you know you got one place and they just do it this way and you go another place to do it that way and then go another place to do it that way then and I think you have to

14:36 Have a lot of judgment and a lot of

14:43 Care and in choosing, you know the way you want your house offices to work with babies and how you want the residents to to be. Yes and Shaw are absolutely convinced. It is good for people to go other places than where they will medical students. I think that everybody ought to go away at least some time and see how it's done elsewhere. It's done just as good this time different and sometimes a little bit better or worse. What if it's important for you to know that you haven't got the final answer.

15:26 And we're all still trying to do it better.

15:33 I also want to ask you about your Love of Animals. You've always loved seems horses and dogs, especially.

15:44 I grew up.

15:46 With a family is it that?

15:50 We lived in those days. It was the border of it Town & Country.

15:59 Lost my father both ahead horses, my sister and I had ponies.

16:09 And we always had dogs and the dogs had dogs and the cats had cats. We just had my father likes Birds. He likes Essence and he had five different kinds of Fashions. And so we had all kinds of animals and birds and things around us when we were growing up. I had white rice.

16:35 Anna

16:37 Waco's we had dogs and cats but we had

16:43 We had all kinds of weird things around and you've always had dogs since animals can be such a comfort after a hard day at the hospital. I imagine what kind of things did you do when you felt discouraged or overwhelmed in your work what kinds of things encouraged you or kept you going?

17:10 I don't know.

17:12 Maybe you didn't get discouraged. You seem pretty determined. Never think about quitting while we're all glad for that.

17:25 Do you know?

17:28 Just grind on I haven't asked you yet. If if religion or spirituality was a part of your upbringing but in that talk a few years ago, you talked about the spiritual poverty of our country and I'm curious about your perspectives on spirituality.

17:48 Well, I don't really know what to say about that.

17:53 My family or physical pages? Okay, and I feel like that's somewhere between

18:02 Protestant and Catholic

18:07 And Episcopal church has his eyes. I think you meant something to me.

18:17 I think her.

18:21 It's important for children to grow up with some kind of religious.

18:27 Background and and with people who

18:33 Who respect all the people's ideas about religion?

18:41 I noticed that your home there were a few icons of Mary holding baby. Jesus such a beautiful image of care and it actually reminds me of some of the paintings around campus of you holding infants. That one is over in light Hall at and what's the story behind that painting?

18:59 Do you remember who did it or when I think there's a picture of it being dedicated to?

19:06 You know, I don't remember why that was.

19:10 Who you no further fella, they asked me to.

19:16 To have it like that or not, but that's

19:20 Everybody I said, you know part of your help hold that baby. That way I said, that's the way you hold baby. It's an instructional photo. It's always fun to see that one in that room with all these men in their portraits and there's a portrait of you holding a baby. I've always liked it picture.

19:42 Of course, I'm glad for

19:45 Were useful primarily because of their size. They were good animal model right rabbits and guinea pigs and all the things that we usually used for 4.

20:01 Experimental animals

20:04 Wretch that way too little for you to fool with with right the lamp. You said we're more like five or six pounds and more like a

20:17 What exactly like a sheep?

20:21 Well doctor Selman, we're running out of time, but I'm so grateful that we could be here together today. Thank you for sharing your stories and for your dedication and commitment here over the decades and for the millions of lives that you've touched through your work. I'm sure I speak for many families and children when I want to say, thank you. Thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

20:46 No only things to do in life is to keep working and you quit and you haven't retired. So now I do have one more question. How would you like to celebrate your 93rd birthday this summer? Do you have any plans?

21:02 I hadn't thought about it. Well, I hope it's a special day and I thank you. Appreciate it.