Recording - 08-17-2023 21:22:13

00:01 Conversational. So good evening, this is Marc Swiontkowski in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the annual meeting of the 20th Century Orthopedic Association. And we're speaking with several members about their origins, if you will, in this organization. And it's my pleasure to be speaking with Dr. Cort Lewis from Connecticut who has been in this organization for more than 20 plus years. And he's going to tell us about the mentors that brought him into this organization. So Cort who were these gentlemen?

00:42 No, Marc I was really fortunate to get to know and work a little bit with both Vin Turco and Burke Curtis. And they were my sponsors when we joined in 1998 and unfortunately they both passed, you know, very soon after, after we made it through the process. In fact, Burke Curtis died before my first meeting. So yeah, that was we we were lucky enough to have the fillers and Dean and Nancy Smith really sort of hold us by the hands as we joined TCOA and made our transition easier. But yeah, Burr and Vin were both early members. I actually don't know if they were founding members, but Burr was in the Navy, so he was the chief of surgery at a naval hospital in Fort Dixon back in the day and then was stationed in Washington also. I think he was a lieutenant commander in the Navy at that time also. So they were, at least in the spirit of early tcoa, they were both wartime orthopods and enthusiastic about the startup of TCOA and early members.

02:14 Right. And how did you come in contact with them professionally?

02:18 So they were both sort of foundational members of the orthopedic community in Hartford, Connecticut. Burr, back in the 60s, was instrumental in Newington Children's Hospital becoming, I think it's fair to say, one of the premier orthopedic hospitals around the country. And so he was a very innovative guy, but also a terrific administrator. And so he became chief of, he became the chief medical officer at Newington Children's back in the day and then actually was CEO for 10 years before he retired in the late 70s and well respected around the country, around the world in pediatric orthopedics. And his thing actually, interestingly was developing a full service pediatric hospital. So Newington Children's dated back to 1896. In fact, he had started a book about the history and that's really where I got to know him because the first chapter of the book started during the Pleistocene era, the Connecticut River Valley. And that just never was going to go too far. And so he, I and a fellow named Jack Banta got involved in helping, you know, get that in print. And it really kind of a neat book. It's called, they called it the Home for the Incurable. So back in the end of the 19th century was the start of pediatric orthopedics in Connecticut. And so to Burr's vision, the orthopedic hospital became Connecticut Children's Medical center, which it is today. And a little bit of that history gets. The orthopedic history gets kind of lost along the way as it becomes part of a bigger organization. But he was really, as I said, a foundational member of the orthopedic community and did just a tremendous amount to, I think, advanced pediatric orthopedics nationally back in the day. And very, very enthusiastic about the 20th century Orthopedic Association. Vin I actually worked with more. And Vin Turco is pretty well known for being the clubfoot guy.

04:47 Clubfoot surgeon, yeah.

04:48 And wrote a book about it. And before he, when he retired, he handed over 30 years of pediatric clubfoot X rays and case histories and what am supposed to do with these things. But they eventually I got them into the hands of a couple of the academic foot and ankle surgeons at University of Connecticut. And I think those records have been well served, although they may be buried at this point. But interesting. Vin was in private practice. He was originally from Rhode island, grew up in Rhode island and did his training in New York and then came back and was in private practice. And the model in Hartford was that most everybody was involved at the Children's Hospital. So even if, you know, in private practice you had a Children's Hospital appointment, those are sort of the glue that held. That held Hartford Orthopedics together in the 50s and 60s and 70s. And so Vincent traveled wildly, got me connected with a sabbatical back in the day at the Rizzoli in Bologna, where he was very friendly with Professor Marchetti and just really did a lot for me in terms of advancing my career and creating opportunities. So I've always been grateful for that. And one of the things about TCOA with the Turco is know two of his three children very well. And they would regale us with stories of the 20th century back when they were kids, when they were teenagers coming to these meetings. And I want to tell you that things have changed a little bit. And whereby a half a glass of white wine today is. And then early bedtime is kind of the way we go. It wasn't like that. So the. The World War II orthopods were pretty intent on keeping. Keeping the party going and they sure did. And when we first joined, that was. That was evident. Yeah. So I'm so grateful for, you know, what they've done, among others, of course, but I was so grateful for. For the support that the two of them gave me as sort of a, you know, young guy with looking. Looking for direction and nothing like tcoa, for developing some nice relationships over the years. So it's just. It's been wonderful that way. But, yeah, they were, they were. It was important to them. The organization was important to both of them, and I'm happy to be able to, at least in a very token way, you know, maintain their presence at some level over the years.

07:49 Well, it's been important to you, too, having just completing your term as five years as treasurer, which is no, no fun game herding a bunch of orthopedists to get them to pay their dues, etc.

08:01 But hurting arthropods is. Can't be done. But, you know, it's pretty easy. And I think. I think, you know, doing that and also running meetings. Well, you've run. You've run meeting before and, you know, it's. It's a fair amount of work, but, you know, it's really gratifying to, you know, have people enjoy, you know, a different venue. And that's always been such an important thing to, you know, have a different experience and be in a different place and everybody can let their hair down a little bit. Yeah.

08:35 So, yeah, the meeting you ran was Woodstock, Vermont, if I recall correctly. It's a lovely place. I remember it quite well. So what would you say if you had to boil it down to one feature of this organization or annual meeting that has been the most meaningful for you?

08:58 You know, I think it's. And we're having this discussion, and I think it's an important discussion to have. Like, you know, things have gotten more expensive and how do we support it? I'm concerned about the potential for having potentially some industry support. Not because I think it's a bad thing in and of itself, but I am concerned that it potentially sort of changes the dynamic a little bit. And I think the one thing about this meeting that both Barbara and I have enjoyed, and it is, I think you'd agree, it's different than, you know, most other.

09:35 Yes.

09:36 Orthopedic meetings you go to in that everybody. You leave all the important orthopedic stuff not completely behind, obviously, but because I think that informs, you know, people's opinions and everything. But you can get a little off the orthopedic topic and feel like we're here to socialize and stay connected. And obviously there's some networking that's involved, but it's pretty gentle and I think works really well. Everybody seems to have a good time. You can't say that about every orthopedic meeting.

10:20 Not at all. It's a wonderful mix of social connectivity combined with the ability to kind of stay up with the cutting edge concepts that are happening in other areas of orthopedics that you're not directly involved with.

10:38 And you know, and it's a little quirky. I mean, you know, if you have to drink beer and eat ice cream all at the same time at 9:45 in the morning, well know you don't do that again in every, every meeting you go to.

10:50 So thank God.

10:51 Make a, make a. You know, I might not always do both every day, but you know, make a concerted effort at least once to like, you know, stick to the, stick to that program just to keep it real, you know.

11:04 Yeah. Be respectful of the history of the organization from those World War II vets. Yeah, yeah.

11:11 We have a lot. We owe them. We owe them a lot.

11:13 We do.

11:14 Yeah.

11:15 Well, I want to thank you, Cort for reminiscing a bit about the people that brought you into this organization and the really positive aspects of the meeting. And we've got a couple more days to enjoy this meeting. And it's my hope that people listening to this will understand about the organization and the history and maybe something they're not familiar with at all and understand what this organization's place is in the history of our specialty. So I want to thank you very much and thanks for your service to the organization.

11:51 Thanks, Marc I enjoyed it.

11:53 Back to the hospitality suite.

11:55 Exactly.