It used to happen quite often. I'd come in contact with someone elderly here in Cleveland and I'd introduce myself. "Oh, I knew your grandfather", they'd say. "He took out my gallbladder" or "he delivered my babies", they'd continue. It doesn't happen so much anymore as these folks of an earlier generation have passed on.
My full name is John Edward Hannibal III, my grandfather was the first, Senior. My son is the IV and I hope, if he's blessed with a son, that he continues on the tradition. It's a proud heritage, with renewed appreciation for it from a letter I'd never read until last week.
I'd heard legendary stories of the lines of patients that would be spilling out of his medical office. The constant coming and going of Catholic clergy visiting his home in Lakewood. My grandfather was a doctor.
He was a surgeon to be specific. The old fashioned kind of surgeon who performed most any type of operation, before the days of specialists. My father, too, was a doctor specializing in Dermatology. I didn't carry on the family practice of medicine though my uncle, another doctor, has children who did.
I do carry with me the pride and feeling of being intimately connected with Cleveland and its people. All due to the amazing career of my grandfather.
This letter, written in 1960, explains who John Edward Hannibal Sr. was and the impact he had on the westshore community of Cleveland. There's no signature on the letter but it seems to be written by either a fellow doctor or someone on the staff of the original St. John's Hospital which was located at 7801 Detroit Ave., now the St. Augustine Health Campus.
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It is impossible to estimate the value of the service to St. John's Hospital and its patients given by John E. Hannibal, MD over a period of 35 years. A native of Cleveland, Dr. Hannibal was one of four children. When he was very young, his father died, and his mother worked to support the family. Young John worked at all manner of odd jobs to assist with this support and to educate himself. He was graduated from St. Ignatius High, John Carroll U (1919) and St. Louis U (1922). He served both his internship and his surgical residency at St. John's Hospital, going into private practice in 1925.
Over the years, Dr. Hannibal has had two aspirations professionally: to practice medicine to the best of his ability and in accordance with the highest spiritual and intellectual concepts; and to enable St. John's Hospital to provide patient care commensurate with the highest professional standards.
His service to St. John's Hospital and the community falls into three main categories. First, from the beginning of his career, he actively encouraged the younger doctors to pursue advanced education and training (two of his three sons are studying medicine). For 20 years before this hospital had an extensive graduate training program, he spent countless hours above and beyond the required number in the instruction of interns and residents. He took at least a dozen younger men into his office at the completion of their training, charged them no rent, allowed them to use his instruments and equipment, to make some of his house calls and receive the resultant fees. Dr. Russell P. Dreyer, now an outstanding obstetrician recalls when he finished his training, Dr. Hannibal had saved eight obstetrical patients for him so he could get established. Eight doctors he has helped were interviewed to prepare this material and none of them could estimate the number of free consultations given to younger men and their patients by Dr. Hannibal. It would be impossible to estimate the number of times he was called out of bed in the middle of the night to come to the hospital and consult with a younger physician on a problem. He never charged for this work or regarded such a request as an imposition. In his mind, it was simply the duty of a doctor. We have no record of the number of times he invited young men in training to be his guests on trips to Mayor or Leahy clinics or leading hospitals throughout the country to observe the work of outstanding specialists, but certainly at least twice a year over the 35 years.
The eight doctors mentioned above agreed that aside from his exceptional skill and ability to teach, the greatest single thing he instilled in his students was an attitude of charity in the performance of their work. He didn't have to say much about it because he lived it. They learned by his example.
It is estimated that over 50% of the west side's leading surgeons have taken part or all of their training at St. John's Hospital. Each of these men received a part of his training from Dr. Hannibal. His work and his attitude toward the practice of medicine therefore profoundly affected not only the lives of the thousands of patients to whom he ministered, but also the lives of countless thousands of other people who have been patients of his students.
Second, his work in establishing high standards of training at St. John's Hospital. During his career, Dr. Hannibal twice served as chief of staff (45-46, 52-54) and three times as director of surgery (42-44, 48-49, 56-58). It was during his first term as chief of staff that he set up the graduate training program. His first purpose was to provide additional surgical training for doctors coming out of WWII service. Plus, to establish higher standards of care for a steadily increasing population, particularly the west side area served by St. John's Hospital. In cooperation with his surgical staff and the medical education committee, he laid the groundwork necessary to meet the standards set by the American College of Surgeons. Full approval was granted in 1946. Since then, 42 physicians have received surgical training at St. John's Hospital. Many are now Fellows of the American College of Surgeons or diplomats of the American Board of Surgery.
Dr. Hannibal's principles of training have led to the recent expansion of the training program to include part time paid directors for the departments of surgery, medicine and obstetrics.
It is interesting to note that although St. John's Hospital is only eighth in size among Red Feather hospitals, it ranked third in 1959 in the number of surgeries, being led only by University Hospitals and St. Luke's. A large share of the credit for this goes to the leadership and advanced thinking of Dr. Hannibal.
Third, his personal charity. Until failing health during his last two years of practice forced him to move his office closer to home in Lakewood, Dr. Hannibal kept his office at W. 65th St and Lorain Ave, long after this ceased to be a medical center. Because of local poverty, it was common for him to receive (and expect) no payment for his services. There must have been a tramp’s mark on his door and there were undoubtedly some people who took advantage of his generosity. His office nurse for 16 yrs said his first remark was always, "never mind the money, do you need the operation?" She recalls one woman who could not afford to pay him and so for years brought him a fresh baked loaf of bread every Friday. The nurse estimates he was paid nothing for at least one of every six surgeries, and wrote off thousands of dollars every year in other treatments plus his free consultations.
In addition to the demands on his time for organizational work at St. John's Hospital, he was an old fashioned family doctor, serving as general practitioner, surgeon, financial and personal counselor and sometimes a shoulder to cry on. He drove himself mercilessly to treat the people who came to him, seeing as many as 100 patients a day during WWII, and keeping office hrs until 8 or 9 pm most nights. He carried this burden in spite of ill health, and he attended daily Mass and Holy Communion. He was particularly generous in treating the clergy and Dr. J.B.Daley observed that on Roman Catholic holy days his waiting room looked like a convent.
He cared very little about money. There is no doubt that he could have been a wealthy man but he was interested only in having enough money to meet his personal needs, educate his children, and support himself in comfort in later years. When he closed his practice because of ill health last year, his family and office nurse wanted to hire a collection agency to close his accounts. He would not allow this, so there are thousands of dollars he will never see.
An illustration of his status is the fact that within two days after he closed his practice, the medical editors of all three Cleveland newspapers called here to "get the story." During those first few days, St. John's Hospital felt like a tomb.
Today he is retired and not well. He still keeps up by reading all the medical literature sent him and sending away for material. Occasionally he is able to attend meetings and somehow the hospital becomes a brighter place when he walks in.
The letter is typed but not signed.
In 2005 he was also honored by the present day St. John Westshore Medical Center in Westlake. Here's that press release.
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