“Polio. I’ve seen polio.”
Last night, I was speaking with one of the most experienced pediatricians I’ve ever met, Dr. Jack Burstiner. I’ve known him for 50 years. I would have known him even longer if I had been born earlier. He lived in my neighborhood, two doors down. He was my pediatrician.
Jack is almost 90 years old. But he still looks like a pediatrician. He’s got a smile a child could trust, now hidden under a white mustache. His green eyes twinkle when he talks about his patients, the kids he’s seen. There are some things about a pediatrician that never change.
Though he stopped practicing in the 1980’s, Dr. Burstiner worked for 30 years in pediatrics, at a time when pediatricians did everything. Hospitals, emergency departments, newborn deliveries, everything. And in 1955, just starting his training, Dr. Burstiner was a pediatric intern at Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn. It was a busy hospital, sure, but it was especially busy in the summer. Polio season.
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