George Parcher was born on June 17, 1885 in Ellsworth,
Maine to George A. and Lucy H. Parcher.[1] His father started a drug
business in Ellsworth in 1847 which he managed for 53 years until his death in
1917. George Parcher graduated from Bowdoin in 1906 and from Harvard Medical
School on June 29, 1910.[2] Parcher was commissioned
as an assistant surgeon on March 22, 1911 and reported for duty on Ellis Island
in New York where he stayed for 4 years.[3] On May 28, 1915, he became
a Passed Assistant Surgeon and four months later, on September 30, 1915, was
assigned to the Philadelphia quarantine station (1915-1916) followed by hospital
work in San Francisco, CA (1916-1921). During World War I he was on duty at the
San Francisco U.S. Marine Hospital.[4] On January 25, 1922 he was
ordered to manage the U.S. Veterans Hospital in Kansas City, MO (1921-1922).[5] While stationed there, he
rose to the position of Surgeon (May 4, 1921) – an extremely fast series of
promotions reflecting his sharp mind and keep medical skills.[6]
In August 1922 he was relieved of his hospital duties in
Kansas City and assigned to work under the tutelage of Paul Preble at the
Boston Quarantine station.[7] On August 5, 1923 Parcher became the sixth
Public Health Service physician to take command of the Boston quarantine
station, and stayed until September 1, 1924.
During his tenure the wharf was re-planked, a steam sterilizer was set
up and placed in use, and a new underground telephone system was installed to
connect with the city lines. This underground system replaced the old overhead
lines, which were a constant source of trouble in the winter months. The new
attendants' quarters building was also placed in use.
During the fiscal year 1924 (i.e. July 1, 1923 to June
30, 1924) Parcher began the use of the cyanogen chloride gas mixture as a
fumigant at this station, and for several months a chemist and an assistant
were assigned to duty in connection with the use of this gas. The fumigation of
ships was done either at the various piers at the city of Boston or at the
quarantine anchorage. Only one vessel arrived with quarantinable or suspected
quarantinable disease onboard. On July 7, 1923, one case of typhus fever in a
steerage passenger, three contacts, and their attendant were removed from the
steamship Samaria from Liverpool and Queenstown. The work of the laboratory in
examining the rats recovered from fumigated vessels and in the mass inoculation
of guinea pigs continued but no plague-infected rat were found. The flea count
work on rats begun in 1922 was discontinued in December of 1923 – presumably
because it was a distraction from their primary goal of identifying plague
infected rats.[8]
Parcher retired from the USPHS as a senior Surgeon in
the fall of 1933 and returned to his home town to practice medicine.[9] Parcher died June 5, 1962
in Bangor, Maine. His wife Esta Brooks Parcher (1897-1970) and his daughter
Nanette Rose Parcher (1927-2008) both survived him.[10]
[3] JAMA,
April 8, 1911, Vol. 56, No. 14, p. 1059; Official List of Commissioned Offices and
other officers of the United States Public Health Service, July 1, 1916,
Washington DC, USGPO, p. 15
[10]
Accessed online: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/48761121/person/20431763024
No comments:
Post a Comment