[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 30, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE SONOMA COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF SONOMA COUNTY, 
                               CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 29, 2008

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with my 
colleague, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, to honor and acknowledge the 
Sonoma County Medical Association, SCMA. The SCMA will celebrate its 
150th anniversary on November 11, 2008.
  Recently discovered documents place the first call to organize the 
forerunner to the SCMA on Apri1 10, 1858, with the creation of a 
constitution and by-laws. The group went through at least 2 subsequent 
reorganizations, the latter being in 1888, which had long been 
considered by medical historians to be the original founding date of 
the organization.
  From 1888 to 1910 the Sonoma County Medical Society, as it was then 
called, held monthly meetings around such topics as ``The Emotions in 
Their Relationship to Disease'' and ``Bubonic Plague: Keeping it Out of 
Sonoma County.'' In 1906, the association elected its first woman 
president, Dr. Anabel Stuart. During both World Wars, 29 percent of the 
medical society's membership served our country in uniform.
  Since 1951, the SCMA has had only 5 full-time administrators or 
executive directors. Josephine Quayle served as ``general helper'' 
until her retirement in 1963. She was succeeded by Norman Brown, who 
served from 1960 to 1982. Roger Brown served from 1983 to 1989, 
followed by Torn Wagner from 1989 to 2000 and Cynthia Melody from 2000 
to the present.
  Over the years, the SCMA has made numerous contributions to the 
health of Sonoma County. In 1962, the SCMA coordinated a ``Knock Out 
Polio'' campaign that resulted in 92.3 percent of the county's 
population being immunized. From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, the 
SCMA created several other affiliated companies that helped increase 
medical services to county residents, including the Specialty 
Physicians Association and the Children's Health Network. And, in 2000, 
the SCMA returned to its roots as a selfsustaining; non-profit county 
medical association supporting physicians and their efforts to enhance 
the health of the community.
  Madam Speaker, the SMCA has a long history of assisting physicians 
practicing in Sonoma County and of preserving the well being of county 
residents. It is appropriate that we honor this distinguished 
organization and its members for their past accomplishments and wish 
them well as they continue to work on behalf of the physicians and 
residents of Sonoma County.

                          ____________________