Chuck Darling
Related Content:
James Lovett first encountered the Student Health Coalition as a young patient at the 1970 or 1971 health fair in Norma, Tenn. In this clip of an interview with Caryl Carpenter and Rick Davidson, learn directly from Lovett about his personal and professional development that led to later becoming the CEO of Mountain People’s Health …
Art Van Zee, during his Internal Medicine Residency at Vanderbilt, served as a mentor for Coalition students in 1974 and 1975 when the health fairs were active in St. Charles and other southwest Virginia sites. He was very taken by the community and so many of the local clinic’s founders that he returned to St. …
Upon reaching East Tennessee in 1969-70, SHC community workers immediately encountered Black Lung Disease (Pneumoconiosis). For years, the SHC engaged Black Lung Disease on several levels: medical diagnosis and treatment; representation for federal benefits claims; and organizing for reform of the United Mine Workers Union. A working, non-technical definition of Black Lung Disease is a …
Leslie Falk was born April 19, 1915, and grew up in St. Louis, Mo. After attending University of Illinois and Washington University (St. Louis), Falk received a Rhodes Scholarship, which allowed him to attend Oxford University, 1937-1940, where he helped in developing a process for extracting penicillin from mold. In 1942, Falk received his medical …
Bill Dow co-founded the Student Health Coalition while in medical school at Vanderbilt University, in 1969. His larger-than-life role in the SHC origin story and beyond warrants special telling, which we attempt in the essay that follows. Contributed by Margaret Ecker, compiled in collaboration with friends Bill Dow energized a generation of student activists and …
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided support to the Student Health Coalition early on, beginning in 1970. A TVA van traveled to the Coalition health fairs and included x-ray, lab facilities, and staff to run it. Retired TVA vans eventually served as early clinic buildings in the communities where the Coalition worked. TVA is a …
Odes and Shelby McKamey were among the most cherished local hosts for members of the SHC when the health fair arrived in their remote mountain community of Stoney Fork, Tenn. Later, after the Stoney Fork Clinic was established, the McKameys also housed and hosted visiting doctors who came to the clinic, including Tom John. Odes …