Title: Thoughts on George Silver
Author:
Section/SPIG: Maternal and Child Health
Issue Date:
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| George Silver |
I was saddened to see the reports of the death of George Silver and how little was written about his life and accomplishments. He passed away on Jan. 7, 2005 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md., at the age of 91.
From the earliest moment I entered the field of maternal and child health, I knew him as one of the “elders” of the field. During the 1990s I had the great pleasure of hosting him several times here at Johns Hopkins where he met with and spoke to our MCH students.
His career included public service as the deputy assistant secretary for health and scientific affairs at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1965 to 1968 where he was one of the principal authors of the EPSDT provisions of the Medicaid law. For much of his career he was a professor of health services at the Yale University School of Public Health. He published his well known book, Child Health: America’s Future in 1978
George earned his MPH at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1948 and served for two years as the health officer in Baltimore’s Eastern Health District. In 1993, he was honored by Hopkins through election to membership in the University’s Society of Scholars.
George was an idealist and a conscience for the field. From my earliest encounters with him, he made me feel guilty that I wasn’t doing enough for mothers and children - that I wasn’t thinking radically enough. In the late 1990s he believed that the country would come back to its senses after the Reagan era. After attending the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of our MCH Department here at Johns Hopkins, he wrote to me in 1998:
“First, the present reversion to anti-social legislation and limitation of social action and reform is about to change [he was ever the optimist]… Second, we have failed to win radical reform of the health and medical care system in the past decades in part because we have emphasized the need for change in response to the needs of the poor and dispossessed. The new emphasis has to be on the average American’s needs, the middle-class as we like to describe the majority. Third, we need to start with a revolutionary approach to care and cost and payment details for children’s services, because the families will be less threatened by rearrangements for the children than they would be for themselves. Fourth, we need to regroup around pediatric advanced practice nurses, reserving pediatricians as specialists and consultants. Maternity care also would be centered in midwives with obstetricians as consultants. Single payment source will be much easier to accomplish now as managed care organizations like HMOs are accustomed to provide services on a third-party basis… When do we start? … Enthusiastically and gratefully, George”
George Silver was an inspiration to those of who attempt to follow in his footsteps. He was a tireless advocate for making the health of women and children a priority for this country. We miss his warm but provocative prodding to provide leadership to the next generation.
--Bernard Guyer, MD, MPH
Zanvyl Krieger Professor of Children's Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Editor's Note: Both George Silver and Bernard Guyer were honored with the APHA Martha May Eliot Award (Silver in 1986 and Guyer in 2003). The award honors a extraordinary health service to mothers and children.