PSU Magazine Fall 1999

I remember one ofmy first cases as a health care social worker in Portland more than 30 years ago. A woman had been in the hospital for two months because there was no one at home to take care of her. We arranged for a nurse from the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) to teach this woman, a diabetic, how to use a syringe and how to administer her own insulin. We established a sched– ule for Meals on Wheels to deliver to her home, and through Metropolitan Family Services (MFS) we secured a homemaker to look after household chores. We made all the linkages to social service and community agencies and coordinated the medical and social care delivery that allowed this woman to stay in her own home. It was not unusual in those days for certain patients to stay on (and on) at a hospital or simply forgo medical attention completely. That is why the director of Metropolitan Family Services, the director of VNA, and I started the social work depart– ment at Providence Hospital. We demon– strated this program to doctors and hospital staff to show what social workers could do to help patients adjust to their illnesses and the changes in their lives that occurred as a result of health problems. By 1972 most hospitals in Oregon had their own social work departments. In 1990, when I left Providence, there were 24 social workers. Since then, funding changes have forced hospitals to dismantle their social work depart– ments. Social workers are still active, but no longer organized by department, and instead are called case managers, with an emphasis on cost containment. I have had the opportunity to work with the PSU Graduate School of Social Work during my career, serving both as a field instructor and advocate for the school. I think it is crucial for all social workers to have an understanding of the complexities of the medical/health system, the importance of interdisci– plinary practice, and to participate in the education of doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. I am impressed with the Graduate School of Social Work, in general, and very pleased with the work its faculty is doing in medical social work. It is for this reason that I am delighted to name that program in my will and to encourage the School to continue its efforts in medical social work with an emphasis on interdisciplinary practice. Shirley 13uxton Shirley Buxton is a native of Idaho . She graduated from the University of Idaho and completed her Master of Social Work at University of California at Berkeley. Shirley is working on a monograph of medical social work in Oregon.