Delaware Academy of Medicine

Delaware Academy of Medicine
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	1925 Lovering Ave., Wilmington, Delaware
Coordinates:	39°45′44″N 75°33′42″W / 39.76222°N 75.56167°W / 39.76222; -75.56167Coordinates: 39°45′44″N 75°33′42″W / 39.76222°N 75.56167°W / 39.76222; -75.56167
Area:	1.1 acres (0.45 ha)
Built:	1931
Architect:	Cornelius,Charles O.; Holden Mclaughlin and Assoc.
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	03000240[1]
Added to NRHP:	April 17, 2003

The Delaware Academy of Medicine is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1930. Its mission is "To enhance the well being of the community through education and the promotion of public health".

Governed by a Board of Directors, the Academy is the premiere resource for health information in Delaware. Academy staff work to combine print digital and Internet resources with knowledge and insight gained from over 75 years of experience in managing medical information. Academy services help save time and effort in finding the health information. The Academy provides a broad range of information and educational services to the public and to medical and dental professionals who are members of the Academy.

The Academy offers a range of services to the general public including: consumer health libraries in all three counties of Delaware, book and literature search services, public health information forums, a range of "members only" services, student financial aid, and various training programs.

The Delaware Academy of Medicine was founded by sixteen doctors and dentists in 1930. These included Julian Adair, MD; Olin S. Allen, MD; Joseph M. Barsky, Sr., MD; W. Edwin Bird, MD; J. Draper Brown, DDS; Lewis B. Flinn, MD; George W.K. Forrest, MD; William H. Kraemer, MD; W. Oscar LaMotte, Sr., MD; Emil R. Mayerberg, MD; John H. Mullin, MD; W. Morris Pierson, MD; James H. Spackman, MD; Albert J. Strikol, MD; Charles E. Wagner, MD; and Victor D. Washburn, MD. Their goal was to provide a professional library and a meeting place where doctors and dentists from all over the state could gather to exchange ideas and experiences, and so improve the quality and delivery of medical care. They also intended the Academy to be a historical repository for the Delaware medical community, documenting and memorializing the lives of its members.

Dr. Flinn served as the Academy’s first president, occupying the office for twelve years. Many years later, in 1984, the Academy's library was renamed in his honor, becoming the Lewis B. Flinn Library.

Since its founding, the Delaware Academy of Medicine has been housed in the former Bank of Delaware building, which was built in 1815 on Sixth and Market Streets in Wilmington. After the bank moved to newer quarters in 1931 and the building was left empty, Mrs. Henry B. Thompson and Mrs. Ernest I. duPont led a drive to raise funds to purchase the building for the newly founded Academy. With their help and support, the building was relocated to Lovering Avenue, and the Academy took up residence there in 1932. In 1958, an addition was constructed, expanding the auditorium and creating more office space for the various medical groups that had their offices in the building.

In 2006 the Academy moved into the newly constructed John H. Ammon Medical Education Center at the Stanton Campus of the Christiana Care Health System.

Over the years since 1930, the Academy’s purpose has grown broader. It serves the Delaware medical community by offering them a meeting place, and it provides medical library services with an extensive collection of journals, books, databases and other electronic resources that few other institutions in the state can match. The DelMiRA program, which stands for the Delaware Medical Information Resource Alliance, is a state consortium which aims to create a healthier Delaware by improving statewide access to medical information and health data. This program alone impacts over 2,000 in-patient beds and more than 10,000 health care professionals statewide.

Contract librarians can be selected and hired to work directly in hospitals and other medical institutions around Delaware through the Academy's Circuit Riding Medical Librarian Program. Since 1961, the Academy has also provided financial aid to medical students. The Academy also created and runs the Tel-Med program. TEL-MED is a free automated telephone system of recorded health messages.

But today, the Delaware Academy of Medicine serves the general public directly as well. It makes its health information resources accessible to everyone in many ways, including professional reference librarian service, the Gail P. Gill Consumer Health Library of popular medical books, and the GoLocal health information service. Through a partnership with the Division of Public Health, it provides consumer health information services at public libraries in New Castle County at the Bear Public Library, Kent County at the Dover Public Library and Sussex County at the Lewes Public Library. More information about the consumer health program can be found at Delaware Health Source website. It also holds lectures and seminars to educate the public on important health topics; such as the newly created mini-med school.

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 

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