Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to JBJS Ortho Corps. Listen as members of the Ortho community, residents, surgeons, educators, staff and patients share their stories about the experiences and people most important in their lives and the lessons they learned along the way. OrthoCorps is an audio archive inspired by StoryCorps and independently organized by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Good evening. This is Mark Swankowski from Albuquerque, New Mexico. We're in the final evening of the annual meeting of the 20th Century Orthopedic Association.
We are using the Ortho core mechanism to record oral histories of really important members of this association. And it's my pleasure and honor to speak with Dr. Jim Ficke, who's the chair of orthopedics at Hopkins, who I've known for 25, maybe longer years, an orthopedic foot and ankle and trauma surgeon who has served his country with distinction for 25, 20 years, 30 years, and a great individual who has contributed to our field and who has manned the wall during his career.
So, Jim, it's my understanding that you want to talk about Richard Haynes and tell us about, tell the listening audience about. When did you first meet Dick Haynes?
[00:01:34] Speaker C: Thank you, Mark.
It really has been an honor. And as you said, 30 years. So more than 30 years ago, I was a postgraduate, too, PGY2 resident.
And then Desert Storm happened, you know, and Saddam Hussein was invaded, you know, Kuwait, and the country, our country, mobilized.
And as a resident at that point in the military, we had had done internship and then a gap, what was now known as a gap year, but all residents had to go out for a year or two.
And then, so I came back in July of 1990, and I've been working in operational medicine for a couple years.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: So. As a general medical officer, is that correct?
[00:02:27] Speaker C: Yeah, not orthopedics, not on the job training, but general medical officer. And so I was in Hawaii when I was starting my residency and at Tripler. Tripler, correct. And.
And then this thing happened. And so for the next several months, the staff, one by one, the faculty of our program were being deployed and we were whittling down to. From seven or so staff to two or three. And then the mobilized reservists started coming in, and Dick Haynes eventually became one of three faculty. And he was there from about November of 1990 for what turned out to be seven months.
He was a reservist, and he was called back to active duty as a reservist. And his drilling place was Tripler. So, you know, in the reserve, you'd think Hawaii. But Dick came out there and he took over. He didn't take charge because he wasn't the chair. He was. He became what we refer to Mark in the. In the military as a member of squad.
So he's an army colonel, he's a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, and he's teaching residents, and he's way outnumbered by the residents.
But.
But some memories that we had, and personal memories that I had of Dick at that time was, as we called him, sir, or Colonel Haynes, was that he was approachable about any kind of case, any kind of patient. And so those times as a PGY2, we would have all kinds of fracture work and things that he would staff.
Our chief residents were very independent, as you can imagine, with three staff and four times that many residents. But Dick was always responsible and he was always ethical. And so he.
He worked with me and staffed with us cases from a variety of adult surgeries that he was comfortable doing because of his quality as a surgeon, but also because his expectation that we were prepared to do it. And one of those was a shoulder. Did an open bank cart with Dr. Haynes. And as a PGY2, I remember that to this day because it was. It was such a.
An enabling and empowering kind of experience.
So that was our time. Now. Dick stayed on for a little longer than they told him he was going to have to, because in the army, you salute the flag, you do what you need to do. And people were held up.
The faculty that were deployed had to stay longer than they thought, even though, you know, that historically Desert storm was about 100 days of combat. And then he was there six months or seven months, as it turned out, for that. Never a complaint. We never heard any complaints.
I have a picture that I, you know, I love to look at is all of the residents with all of the parts of our memories of Dr. Haynes. And we presented to him in a framed golfing know surgeries, foot and ankle, tibia fractures, whatever it was, he took care of. But Dick has been a mentor.
I can keep talking just because.
Because I've had that relationship since then with him where he remembered me.
And as a junior faculty, junior, even before I was teaching residents, I would see him in an academy and he'd say, hello, Jim, how are you?
And as I became teaching faculty, Dick was a sponsor for positions and roles. And then as I became a leader and became a chair, Dick has continued to pay that forward. You know, one trip that he went on just a few years ago into the South Pacific, one of my Residents, my budding pediatric residents, was able to do an outreach with him in the South Pacific. And he did that because he was. He's just a kind of a caring and a giving person that just loves to teach, but also loves the youth of learners.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah, he's always been a real supporter of resident and student education. And as is the case with many, many pediatric orthopedists, I would say 99%, just really highly ethical people that are definitely not money driven, rarely cause problems in departments, just live to serve patients and teach the next generation.
Dick and I had a chance to serve simultaneously at the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. And we know each other very well, but we're here at the 20th Century Orthopedic Association. Was it Dick that nominated you to become part of this organization? Who was it that nominated you?
[00:07:38] Speaker C: Andy Pollock and Anna Miller. You know, and I think being. You know, this is an organization that really focuses on family. And I will tell you that Anna Miller and my wife Berth have known each other as friends for a lot of years because they love gardening. And.
And so when I got this call from first Andy and then Anna to say, you know, we'd like you to join the 20th Century Orthopedic association, it was made very clear to me that my invitation to this was because I happen to be married to Roberta. And so Bert is a kindred spirit with Anna. And, you know, this is a great. It's our first meeting to enjoy the time and get to know so many family members and more of the people that are in the organization.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Right. I was privileged to interview Dick for Ortho core on the 20th century channel earlier today, and we were just running the list of the large number of pediatric orthopedic surgeons who have been a part of this organization and had served the Academy and the AOA and the board and all these other committees which require commitment and the willingness to participate by highly ethical individuals. And that is Dick to the T. He's.
He is indeed a gentleman who is very caring and always looking out how he can support other people. And it certainly sounds like he's been a wonderful mentor to you, and he's enjoying this meeting, as you were, and I think he'll have a lot of fun listening to this. Do you have any last parting thoughts about Dick before we end this short interview?
[00:09:37] Speaker C: You know, I just would say I think I had the privilege to go back to the Hawaii Orthopedic association meeting and speak this spring, and Dick was actually there as well, just to have time and spend with him, I think is always a privilege. So he's a gentle soul, but he is also just a competent and highly educated person.
We talk about serving leadership and when I think about a servant leader, I think of dickheads.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: What a great way to end this brief chat. Thanks so much, Jim and Chris, congratulations on being part of this organization. I know you're going to serve it well and you'll enjoy the meeting. So thanks for spending the time this evening.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: My pleasure, Mark.
