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October 14, 2009

Dean's Founding Family Returns to Visit Clinics

Granddaughters of Dr. Joseph Dean to Tour Clinics on Friday

When Dr. Joseph C. Dean opened his first office in 1904, he didn’t have a telephone. So he used the phone number of Collyer Pharmacy downstairs, located at the present-day intersection of State St. and W. Mifflin Street in downtown Madison.

105 years and more than 500 physicians later, Joseph Dean’s granddaughters will visit Wisconsin to tour some of the new clinics that are now part of the Dean family legacy. Sally Millar, RN, MGH and Mary Fitzsimmons are the daughters of Janet Dean Millar, Joseph’s only daughter. Joseph’s brother, brother-in-law and two sons were all Dean physicians. Sally also currently works in healthcare at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.

“Our uncle, Frank K. Dean, MD was the reason I went into nursing,” says Sally Millar. “We are amazed and so pleased with how much the Dean system has grown since we were kids.”

Sally, Mary and Mary’s husband Peter will all tour Dean Clinic on Fish Hatchery Road this Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. where they’ll meet longtime Dean Pediatrician Conrad Andringa, MD and retired Dean Pediatrician Thomas Geppert, MD. Dr. Geppert is one of the original Dean doctors to have transitioned from the group’s building at 113 N. Carroll in 1960 to the current Dean Clinic on Fish Hatchery Road. And there’s a surprise twist…Dr. Geppert happens to have also been Sally and Mary’s pediatrician when they were growing up!

Afterwards, around 2:45 p.m., we’ll head to the Dean & St. Mary’s Outpatient Center and Skywalk, where a plaque honoring Joseph Dean, MD and his achievements is located. Members of the media are invited to walk with us as we document this extraordinary historical occasion and present his granddaughters with a gift!

For more information or to arrange to walk along with the group on Friday, October 16th, contact Dean Health System Communications Manager Melissa Wollering at melissa.wollering@deancare.com or (608) 250-1504.

Did You Know?

Joe Dean used to deliver the morning newspaper, the Madison Democrat. On the newsboy’s delivery route: U.S. Senator John G. Spooner, who lived on Langdon St.
Joe Dean was a member of the 1897 UW-Madison Championship football team.
Dr. Joe Dean’s first monthly income was $4.50 in August of 1904, his first year’s income totaled $1,589.00.
The name “Dean Clinic” was first used in June of 1929 at Joe’s third location at 113 N. Carroll St. Dean Clinic was now 3 physicians strong!
By 1915, Dr. Joe Dean had become well-known and traveled to many towns and farms throughout southern Wisconsin for consultations or surgery. Today, Dean serves at least 20 counties in southern Wisconsin!
During the winter of 1927-1928 Joe Dean set out on an emergency call to tend to an accident victim who lived in Portage. The roads were impassable with snow, so he chartered a private plane for an 18 minute flight to Portage. Modern-day Flight for Life?
Dr. Joe Dean treated the deadly flu epidemic of 1918. The only medication they could provide was aspirin. In the words of his son Frank Dean, “Often a patient who seemed not too bad in the morning would be dead by night.” Joe Dean never contracted the disease despite his continued exposure.
Dr. Joe Dean was one of the chief sponsors of St. Mary’s Hospital which opened its doors in 1912. He sent St. Mary’s its first patient and performed the first surgery done there.
Following his retirement, the Medical Staff of St. Mary’s dedicated a bronze plaque to him. “To honor Dr. Joseph Dean this tablet was erected by the staff of St. Mary’s Hospital in 1938.” For many years the plaque was displayed in the entryway of the hospital. We will now visit it with Sally, Mary and Peter at its new home within the Skywalk connecting Dean & St. Mary’s Outpatient Center and St. Mary’s Hospital on Friday.