Recording – 08-01-2024 12:10:11

00:02 This is Marc Swankowski at the 20th Century Orthopedic association meeting in early August of 2024. And we're recording some of the oral histories of this organization. And I'm pleased to be speaking with Dr. John Sarwick, who is a professor at the Lurie Children's Hospital and Northwestern University, renowned pediatric orthopedist. And one of the things that we've looked for is for individuals that have recollections of the founding members of these of this organization who were a group of orthopedic surgeons who had had personal experience in World War II and formulated this group to be an association where they could share some orthopedic knowledge but have a major focus around social programs. And John has some recollections of Dr. Clint Compeer, who was, I believe, the leading member behind and the energy behind establishing this organization. So, John, what are your recollections?

01:07 Well, thanks, Marc and for the opportunity to chat on this discussion of the early founders of the 20th century. As a junior resident, I did get to know Dr. Clint Compere and have a few, you know, observations to make regarding Dr. Compere. And yes, it's very true that he was a very energetic early member of the 20th century. And by that meaning they were hard charging, they stayed out late, they were heavy drinkers, they were cigar smokers, they were classic cigar chomping orthopedic surgeons post war and also a really, truly great group of people. Early on, when I got to know Dr. Compere, it was in the early days of the total joint surgery experience and he was developing a younger partner, Dr. Rick Wixon, whose father was also an orthopedic surgeon from southern Wisconsin. And actually Dr. Wixon's father's partner was the father of one of the most historic winter Olympians in history from Wisconsin. But Dr. Comp here was very demanding. He was gruff and challenging. He usually intervened or worked with his younger junior partner and didn't really have too much interest in what the resident had to say. But in any event, he was an early developer of the total joint experience and he was a good surgeon. And because of that, he was able to succeed in Chicago and develop others and had a big private practice, a substantial private practice in Chicago and developed others who I'll mention in a minute. But because of his influence at the medical school level, he had a lot to say to the medical school and the dean. And he in fact became interim departmental chair for a year or two, 1978, 79, before the beginning of Mike Schaeffer and this was because of the exit of the prior chair, Dr. Bill Kane.

03:44 Right.

03:44 Dr. William Kane, PhD, who I have great respect for and who I nominated and successfully completed a pillar of orthopedic surgery for Dr. Kane from AOA. And so. But Dr. Compere had other visions of the department and was then put in the position of being interim or departmental or acting departmental chair at Northwestern for a couple years.

04:13 Okay.

04:15 So interestingly, in Dr. Compere's bio, it says that he was a founder of the Rehab Institute of Chicago or the ric.

04:28 Right.

04:28 And this may or may not be completely true because really, one of the founders, if not the founder of the Rehab Institute of Chicago was Paul Magnussen, who worked under the Truman administration with the founding of the modern VA hospitals. And so Dr. Compere may have been involved with those discussions, but Dr. Paul Magnuson probably gets most of the credit for it. Another interesting sidelight that's relevant to the 20th century is that Dr. Kamp here sponsored a very active, a very active member of the 20th century who was Paul Meyer.

05:14 Right.

05:14 And Paul Meyer was a dear friend of mine and was, was actually my sponsor with Dean McEwen, another famous orthopedic surgeon here in the United States. And so. But Dr. Compere was very influential in Dr. Meyer's career.

05:30 Yes. So, yes, it's. And you mentioned early in the discussion about the hard charging aspect of this group and the significant role of alcohol in the social part of this meeting. The meeting also has the persistent custom of having ice cream and beer every morning of the meeting at 10 o'clock. And we kind of laugh and joke about that now, but I don't think one can underestimate the, the immense psychological impact that the founders experienced in their management of so many injured and killed soldiers and their World War II experience. And I'm quite sure that the heavy alcohol consumption started with that most unenviable experience of war surgery. It's. The group now doesn't really participate so much in that heavy drinking atmosphere, but it's certainly understandable given the history of the founders of this organization. So.

06:41 That's right.

06:41 It's. It's easy to understand looking back. And so it's, it's our hope. And first of all, I want to apologize to those who are listening. I thought we had a quiet venue, but we're outside on a kind of a humid day. Apologize for all the cars driving by. But it's important for the people listening to this to understand a bit about the founders of this organization. Whose influence continues today with the excellent scientific content of the meeting, where you can learn about all the progress and all the subspecialties, as well as a huge impact of families and social time. So, John, thank you very much for sharing those recollections of Dr. Compere. We're grateful to his contribution in establishing this organization.

07:33 Thank you, Marc Thank you so much.

07:35 Appreciate it.