[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 21, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3967-S3968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. CONRAD JONES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to recognize a distinguished 
doctor and Kentuckian, Dr. Conrad Jones. Dr. Jones has risen to become 
one of the most admired and applauded physicians in the Bluegrass 
State, a feat that was recognized at the Murray-Calloway County 
Hospital in 2007 when they opened their new women's health facility and 
named it the Conrad Jones Women's Pavilion. As Dr. Jones has 
contributed to the field of women's health for six decades now, it was 
a very fitting tribute.
  When Dr. Jones was born in 1922, there was not yet the MRI, the 
ultrasound or the home pregnancy test. Dr. Jones's father, Dr. Cody 
Jones, was also a physician, and a young Conrad would accompany him on 
his rounds as a country doctor. The Jones family had come to Kentucky 
from the Carolinas and Tennessee before the Civil War. Conrad's mother 
was a school teacher who taught in Hazel and at Murray High School.
  Conrad remembers his father worked long, hard hours. His father would 
have preferred that Conrad become a farmer instead of a doctor, in 
fact, because a doctor's life was too hard. Luckily for the people of 
Kentucky, Conrad did not take that particular piece of advice.
  Dr. Conrad Jones attended Murray State and then went to medical 
school at the University of Louisville. After serving his country in 
uniform, he returned to Murray, KY, to work at what was then the new 
city-county hospital and its obstetrics unit. He helped patients from 
the immediate area as well as all over Marshall, Graves and Henry 
counties.
  Dr. Jones has practiced medicine in Murray so long he can tell you 
the history of how medicine and medical technology has advanced in the 
area. Dr. Jones certainly keeps up with the technology, and is proud 
that Murray has what he calls by today's standards state-of-the-art 
facilities.
  I wish to commend Dr. Conrad Jones for his many decades of service to 
his community. The people of Murray, Calloway County and Kentucky are 
lucky to have him. I know my colleagues join me when I say this U.S. 
Senate is grateful to him and his family for all he has contributed to 
make ours a stronger country.
  The Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce published a 2008 
Viewbook that contained an illuminating article detailing Dr. Conrad 
Jones's life and career. I ask unanimous consent that the article be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed, as 
follows:

  [From the Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce 2008 Viewbook]

               Murray's Conrad Jones: A Life in Medicine

                        (By Robert A. Valentine)

       In February 2007, the Murray-Calloway County Hospital 
     opened a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to women's 
     health. Almost everyone there recognized the appropriate name 
     of the new facility: The Conrad Jones Women's Pavilion. Dr. 
     Conrad Jones, who had already witnessed six decades of 
     progress in women's health, was looking on in a state of 
     near-speechless humility.
       He was born long before the MRI, the ultrasound or even the 
     home pregnancy test. Most women had yet to vote in their 
     first presidential election, and all but a very, very few 
     babies were born at home. It was a warm October in 1922.

[[Page S3968]]

       ``My father wanted me to be a farmer because a physician's 
     life was hard,'' Dr. Jones told us in an interview in his 
     offices at the Murray Woman's Clinic. He was attracted to the 
     life of the country doctor, despite its perils and long, hard 
     hours. ``Work in the tobacco fields made me know that I 
     didn't want that.''
       After Murray State, he entered medical school at the 
     University of Louisville. Following that, he went directly 
     into the service. ``There were few specialists there,'' he 
     remembers. ``You did whatever was necessary for the 
     patient.''
       He returned to Murray after the service. By that time, the 
     new city-county hospital had come into being with an 
     obstetrics unit on the second floor of the northwest wing. 
     ``It was pretty crude by today's standards,'' he remembers, 
     ``But it was probably the best OB unit for several counties 
     around. We did about as many deliveries then as we do now,'' 
     Dr. Jones observed, because many patients came from Marshall, 
     Graves and Henry counties.
       ``Murray has always been a very progressive community in 
     terms of technology'' he reminded us. ``By today's standards, 
     what we have now is the state-of-the-art. This should serve 
     us well for several years.''
       We asked Conrad Jones how long he has been in Murray. With 
     a broad smile, he answered, ``Always.'' That makes him the 
     ideal source of information on changes in women's healthcare 
     over the years. We also asked about the most important 
     changes during his career.
       ``Today there are far more caesarian sections being 
     performed. In the '50s and '60s, if your section rate got 
     above 5 or 6 percent, it was uncommon. Now, we see 23 to 30 
     percent. Surgery is much safer now, and we have better 
     tracking technology, so you can tell how the fetus is under 
     stress. Fetal monitors were a major step forward by in the 
     late '60s and early '70s.''
       Modern techniques make it much safer for the mother. 
     ``Anesthesia is also another big change. Not too many years 
     back, the only anesthesia was the `saddle block' (a procedure 
     which cuts off sensation in the pelvic region) or nitrous 
     oxide. Now, the epidural has replaced that.''
       But the main change is the technology and the facility. The 
     custom of hospital instead of home deliveries has drastically 
     reduced the infant mortality rate. Only two generations ago, 
     maternal and infant mortality was all too common. ``The 
     mothers of today have no idea how dangerous childbirth used 
     to be,'' he recalls with a serious look.
       And women are presenting more challenges. Today, there are 
     more career or professional women, and more women remain in 
     the workforce longer. ``The age at which women start families 
     is higher, and I don't know what affect that's going to have 
     on the family. But we know that, as a mother ages, there is a 
     greater risk to her and to the child. However, medicine is 
     keeping pace, I think, so it's safer.'' He points with pride 
     to the work of his associates in fertility treatments and in 
     the new outpatient, non-invasive surgeries for incontinence 
     hysterectomies, and non-surgical permanent birth control. 
     ``Fifty years ago, that would have seemed like a miracle,'' 
     he says.


                  the role of women in murray medicine

       In the future, he expects to see more women entering 
     medicine, and he welcomes it. ``We had two women in my 
     medical school class of 100; now about half of the classes 
     are women. It's a growing thing, and very important. Most of 
     the pediatricians in Murray are women, and there are two top-
     notch internists. We have Dr. Deeter and Dr. Burnett in our 
     practice (Murray Woman's Clinic) and three outstanding nurse-
     practitioners, and that is very important to good, modern 
     family care.''
       After so many sleepless nights and the constant drive to 
     remain ``current'' in technology and practice, we had to ask 
     if he would still choose medicine as a career if he were 
     starting over, today. ``Most emphatically, yes! The hours are 
     very difficult, but you get so much joy out of helping 
     others. It's a very happy, joyous experience; you are helping 
     people at a vital time in their lives.''
       And what would he tell someone starting out in medicine 
     today? ``Well,'' he smiled, and leaned over his desk, 
     ``You've got to have a good partner--and that's my wife. She 
     was with me all the way; when I was gone all night, she had 
     to be alone. We couldn't take vacations as other folks might, 
     and maybe we missed a lot of things. She has been a real 
     trooper; without her, I couldn't have done it.''
       Would he change anything about his career? ``Not a bit,'' 
     he smiled. After all, it has been not merely a career so much 
     as it is a life in medicine.

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