A Message from the Dean

Dear DMS Friends:

Words cannot express the shock and sadness we all experienced as the September 11 mind numbing events unfolded.

Our Dartmouth community has responded with prayer vigils and support sessions and will continue to work in meeting the needs of our fellow citizens in this time of national and personal tragedy.

I was in New York City when this violence struck our country and watched from the street in lower Manhattan when the towers fell. As a physician, I was impressed by the immediate and unselfish response from laypeople, as well as our fellow health professionals. In times like these, we are drawn together in our common respect for life. As a colleague reminded me yesterday, Schweitzer observed that he did not invent the concept of reverence for life. Rather, he discovered it in people. Whether it is a frail or a potent force in the world is up to all of us.

We as physicians have a special responsibility in this regard. As AAMC President Jordan Cohen noted, "The scenes of New York's hospitals having been converted to battlefield trauma units reminded us all of the health professions' most deeply rooted commitment to serving the public."

Dartmouth Medical School, through its faculty, students, and staff will continue to keep the community informed about how they can assist FEMA and other government agencies with supplies, personnel, patient transfers. The impact of this tragedy will become more evident and pervasive for a time, and the recovery will be long in coming.

In the words of Aeschylus, "And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."

John

John C. Baldwin, M.D.
Vice-President for Health Affairs,
Dartmouth College
Professor of Surgery and Dean,
Dartmouth Medical School

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