University of Vermont Medical School
On December 11, 2006, Bernhoff A. Dahl, MD and Richard Tarant, the last candidate for the United States Senator from Vermont, were keynote speakers in the Fidelity Clinical Laboratory at the University of Vermont.
Below is a script from the presentation of Dr. Dahl.
“It is a joy and privilege to take part in the dedication of Dr. Thomas D. and Joan F. Trainer of the UVM Clinical Laboratory. I spent four wonderful and productive years as a resident in the field of pathology in the years 1964-1969 under the care of Dr. Coach, often on an individual basis, before turning to my official duty as an employee of the epidemic intelligence service in the CDC in Atlanta.
In 1971, I was appointed head of the pathology at the age of 33, at East Maine Medical Center, in Bangor, Maine, home of Dr. Trayner. I have always thought that this position is connected with some clerical error. A few decades later, when I was in early retirement, in 1995, I learned that Dr. Coach played a key role in recommending this position for me, this opportunity for life.
When I thought about this beautiful devotion to my beloved teacher, Dr. Coach, I thought about the journey that we gathered together as a teacher and student. As you can remember the word “Journey,” from old French, this is the distance you can travel in one day. However, the Journey, which unites any particular teacher and student, can be short, sometimes weeks, often within a year.
But my journey with Dr. Trainer lasted almost 25 years, because as a practicing pathologist, I did hundreds, in fact almost 1000 cases of the “frozen section,” in small hospitals throughout the state of Maine. I alone made decisions on whether an additional operation would be performed .... mastectomy, colon resection, extensive multistage surgery for pancreatic cancer, etc.
Only the lady who washed my underwear knew how tense some of these cases were.
However, Dr. Trainer looked over my shoulder, along with the wisdom he gave me ... wisdom, knowledge, sophisticated judgment, the wisdom he gave me here at the UVM decades earlier.
They say that “to teach is to touch the future”,
He also said that “to teach is to touch lives.” The concept of the “six degrees of separation” states that anyone can be connected with anyone in the world in just six separate steps or contacts. The teaching of Dr. Trainer has touched and still affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of Mainers, because, since we created Dahl-Chase Pathology Associates, we added other pathology residents from UVM. We covered and still covered about 40% of the population of Maine. However, to carry this logic beyond just Men, the wisdom and experience of Dr. Treiner, which has been shared by more than 200 residents and pathology scholars over the past 46 years, affects millions of patients in America, Canada and beyond, Dr. Coach, his resident or boyfriend, and the patient.
On a personal level, Dr. Trainer, also known as Fatah, has an excellent sense of humor, a personality trait that comes in handy in dealing with non-partisan or fighting people (like me!). And the staff of doctors in hospitals served by UVM,
Dr. Trainer surrounded himself with great people, the biggest of whom was, no doubt, his beautiful wife, Joan, known as "Mota", also a native of Maine. My wife, Elaine, is another Bangor, Maine, and I remember her with the least memory.
Elaine, let me just have one short story. Decades ago, visiting the American Pathology Conference in Los Angeles, Dr. Trainer, several other pathologists, and I “invited myself” as guests of the imaginary Colonel Becker at the Oscar at the Ambassador, the same hotel as Bobby Kennedy was shot in 1975. We sat down with Shelly Winters of the Poseidon Adventure, drank a few drinks when we tried to catch up with the consumption of Miss Winter. We can not.
One of the most important aspects of Dr. Coach’s training was that as a pathologist we must go beyond the laboratory and deal with the whole patient, not just their blood and other fluids, not just their biopsy or resected organs. We were asked to go on patient sessions with clinicians, to visit patients for more direct information, as we worked on our magic on our specimens. As pathologists, we are the last of the great magicians in medicine.
The psychiatrist Carl Jung noted that: “He is looking back with appreciation at brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.”
Chief among them is Dr. Thomas D. Coach. I thank you, your residents and fellows in pathology, and the millions of patients who live and those you touched, thank you.
May God continue to bless you, Dr. Trainer and those around you. "
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