Brian: Okay. This is Brian Wood. I\u2019m a member of the class of 2023 at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine on May 10th, 2022.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: And this is Lonnie Merrick. I\u2019m a graduate of UNC Medical School class of 1978.<\/p>\n
Brian: Thank you, Dr. Merrick, for sitting down with me. I\u2019ve got a series of questions here that we\u2019ll go through. Feel free to answer them as they come. But also, if something inspires you to tell other stories or other things as we go along based off of a question, feel free to have free reign as well.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Okay. I\u2019m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
Brian: Great. So, the first category of questions starts with some of your origin story. So, just a little bit about your place and date of birth is the first thing we like to ask about.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. And my father was a barber there. And my mother was a housewife. One of four children.<\/p>\n
Brian: What was it like growing up with them?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Hectic. It was hectic.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Were you the oldest or youngest?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I was the second oldest. My older brother was two years older than I. And I have one that\u2019s two years younger. I was in the middle. And then I have one that\u2019s 10 years younger.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Who was most influential in your youth, and how were they influential for you?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I would say my uncle who was a schoolteacher was most influential in my youth. And he was the guy who would take us to concerts, take us to New York, expand our horizons from Wilmington. He had a masters in hematology. But he taught high school. When my father and my uncle were coming through, the only people \u2013 black people who went to school could only really teach or be doctors or lawyers. That was especially in a town like Wilmington.<\/p>\n
Brian: Did you have a family doctor or any other doctors who influenced you as a child?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I did. But the black physician in the community, especially Wilmington like Dr. Hubert Eton, Dr. Bieler, and Dr. \u2013 there were four of them. But not really that influential in me wanting to go into medicine. And my family was very close with Dr. Bieler. He was an ophthalmologist, actually.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. What options did you consider after high school?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, I always was destined to go to college. That wasn\u2019t an issue in terms of after high school. It was just which college I wanted to go to. It was very different back then. I think I graduated college with $2,500.00 of debt.<\/p>\n
Brian: That\u2019s the dream of many medical students today.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: And Chapel Hill was always my first choice. I only applied to three schools: Chapel Hill, Davidson, and Duke. And I decided that Chapel Hill suited me best.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Can you tell me about your undergraduate experience?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: My undergraduate experience was marvelous. I felt like I had a very unique undergraduate experience in that before I even came to Chapel Hill, I\u2019d spent so much time at Chapel Hill that some people thought I was actually a student. A lot of that had to do with the fact that I was on the youth council. I knew a lot of people fromGreensboro That\u2019s why I know all the high schools. And then we used to travel all over the state with the old educational conferences. So, I was very embedded in the state and through that organization.<\/p>\n
And I was actually doing consulting for the state board of education and things of that nature. And so, when I went here, it was just a matter of re-hooking up with all those people that I had previously been in youth council with and state youth council. And so, it was great. And I met just people. What I loved about Chapel Hill was I felt so free here to do what I wanted to do with who I wanted to do it as opposed to \u2013 Wilmington\u2019s kind of a cliquey town. And just met a whole bunch of people that I hadn\u2019t met before. It was great.<\/p>\n
Brian: What did you study as an undergraduate?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Philosophy and psychology.<\/p>\n
Brian: How did you finance your college education?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I worked as a stevedore. My great uncle put some money aside for me. And I got loans.<\/p>\n
Brian: How did you begin to consider medicine as a career?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, I got burned out with philosophy. And psych just seemed like a dead end. And so, I flipped a coin on April 19th and heads, medical school, tails, law school. So, then I had to get in gear to medical school. I took all my prerequisites starting my junior year. I had nothing else to do before that and finished them that junior year. Started that summer with organic chemistries and then took everything, the three lab courses. So, I had no \u2013 they were all electives.<\/p>\n
Brian: Was there anybody at the school that influenced you as a mentor when it came to those premed studies?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Not really. It\u2019s either do or you don\u2019t. I think the person that influenced me mostly in medical school was Dr. Marion Phillips who was the dean over there who very \u2013 he made me feel very comfortable with the whole process.<\/p>\n
Brian: Had you established a relationship with him before you matriculated to UNC?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: No.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Were there any enrichment programs for prospective black medical students like UNC\u2019s current MED program that you were familiar with or participated in?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, they had a program that summer before medical school. And I just found it not very helpful. And so, I dropped out of it and got in my car and drove 8,000 miles in three and a half weeks. And for some people it might have proved helpful. But for me, I didn\u2019t find it very helpful.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Was it mainly science-focused classes at that point for that program?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: The people who were going to medical school \u2013 I think it was mostly science\u2013 I wasn\u2019t there that long for it. No. I didn\u2019t feel like I needed more of a break after that growing year because it\u2019s tough taking three lab courses because that hour in lab is not an hour you get in that course.<\/p>\n
Brian: That\u2019s fair. What reputation did the UNC School of Medicine have among the people who mattered to you at that time?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: At that time, it didn\u2019t have a reputation. It had a presence. And I think Dr. Phillips and Dr. Chris Fordham\u2013 and I had known Dr. Fordham because one of \u2013 just socially, one of my roommates was his daughter. And so, it made me feel very comfortable with that. And I really enjoyed Dr. Fordham. I thought he was just such an approachable guy.<\/p>\n
Brian: Did you have the option of attending a different medical school? And if so, why did you attend UNC in the end?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I had the option of going to UNC or Bowman Gray as a North Carolina Governor Scholar. But it paid everything. That\u2019s how I got out of medical school with no debt.<\/p>\n
Brian: What made you pick UNC over the other two at that time?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I liked the vibe in the medical school, and I liked Chapel Hill. I did not like Baptist Hospital at all. And Duke was just so hectic. I was a little suspicious of the first year where do you all the sciences againand then take a second year of research and then second, third, and fourth year \u2013 I just like the vibe here.<\/p>\n
Brian: Tell me about your time at UNC School of Medicine overall.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I had a wonderful time. I had great instructors. People seemed very supportive. Specifically, I remember my basic sciences. I remember Dr. Benson who was the pathologist. I remember the lady, the microbiology teacher. I just thought everybody was very supportive. It wasn\u2019t a lot of pressure. I enjoyed the little mini classes we had and the clinical sciences. I thought the physicians were very impressive. That\u2019s what I liked about it, especially some of the internal medicine and medicine people. They were just great people and physicians.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. What was it like to be one of the few black people in your class? Did you think often about that fact? If so, why?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Not really. As I already mentioned, I was in class with more black people than I\u2019d been since the sixth grade. I think my class was almost 20% blackif I have a picture, I\u2019ll have to count before they merged in the ECU people.<\/p>\n
Brian: I\u2019m intrigued by that statement. Was your high school experience one at a predominantly white high school?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Oh, yeah. In Wilmington, they weren\u2019t gonna bus anybody to a black school. So, of course, they closed that down and sent everybody to the high school.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Who were you closest to at the UNC School of Medicine? Why were you close to those people?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, it\u2019s interesting because you\u2019re asking me about Chapel Hill. Well, I came to a radio\/TV motion picture institute program here when I was 15 or 16. I wanted to be a disc jockey. I love music. And there was a gentleman by the name Alan Mask who also was in undergraduate with me and medical school. And he still lives in Chapel Hill. I don\u2019t know whether you know Alan or not.<\/p>\n
Brian: I\u2019ve seen his name on the list of people to be interviewed. I\u2019m not sure if they\u2019ve done it yet.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Yeah. I think there were a lot of people that have stayed friends and hang out.<\/p>\n
Brian: Very good. Do you recall facing hardship as a medical student? Did you ever doubt your own abilities as a med student?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I think before the term was invented, we always had that imposter syndrome feeling. Do you belong here? And then we would get together and study a lot for the board exams and things like that. I doubt. Absolutely. No doubt about it.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. How did you overcome those feelings? Or did you just push through it?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Just push through. Nothing in particular except for, like I said, we would get together and study. I have pictures of us on graduation, all my friends. Like I said, I was around more black people during medical school than any other time in my education.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Can you tell me a story about a time you either felt unwelcome or felt like you did not belong?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: The only awkward interactions I really had was I was doing a medicine rotation in Greensboro. And I had this GP guy that I was working in his office. And he was just very off-putting. It wasn\u2019t unwelcome. But it was another edge to him. In fact, they stopped sending people up there after I came back. And it just seemed to be a pattern of a lot of people \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t a black\/white thing. But there are things that happened that aren\u2019t articulable when you walk in a room \u2013 it never happened to me where people walk in a room and says,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I want a real doctor.\u201d Some of my colleagues would say, \u201cI walk into this lady\u2019s room. And they say, \u2018Well, okay. Can I have a real doctor?\u2019\u201d And stuff like that. But I never encountered that. But for the most part, it was a very good \u2013 like I said, I loved medical school here. It was fun. It was challenging. We had fun. And I\u2019m trying to look back and see the first and second year \u2013 everybody\u2019s really afraid in the first year. I\u2019m gonna study every night, be at my desk. And we would laugh about that later. But like I said, I probably had closer relationships in medical school than I did the other \u2013 except undergrad school. That was just a different thing. I had so many people to hang out with. It was totally different.<\/p>\n
Brian: One name that I ran across in some of my research looking back at the 1970s at the School of Medicine was the name Eva Clayton who helped run some of the educational programs for black students in their undergraduate years. Did you ever encounter her?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: No, not that I can remember.<\/p>\n
Brian: She may have been a little before you were there?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Before or after?<\/p>\n
Brian: I think it was 1972 when she was doing some \u2013<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Yeah, I didn\u2019t know her. I didn\u2019t even think about medical school until 1973.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. And one thing I realized I failed to ask was what year did you graduate from your undergraduate institution?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I graduated from here \u2013 I went to undergrad school here in 1974. And the other thing is I came to school. I was kinda young. I came to school at age 17.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. An early overachiever, it sounds like.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Yeah, I guess.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. Another question we were gonna ask \u2013 while you were at UNC School of Medicine, can you tell me about a time when you asked for help while as a medical student?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: What type of help? I think at one time, I may have \u2013 as I was finishing up, I was bummed because I think this girl cut me loose. I was feeling a little blue. Everything was on the up and up. But I just couldn\u2019t get going. My uncle had died. I inherited a little bit of money for me. And I think I went to a therapist. And that was it. But no meds or anything. Just talked about it. Every once in a while, people get \u2013 there was nothing I wanted. Everything was so right and so peaceful, that I was like, \u201cNo. When\u2019s the next storm gonna hit?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brian: Yeah. Gotcha. My next question for you was what kept you steady in pursuit of your medical degree? Were there any people, hobbies, or sources of inspiration that helped you overcome any doubts you might have?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: My father didn\u2019t own a railroad. I only had one shot at it. My father was a barber. And so, that kept me motivated.<\/p>\n
Brian: That is good motivation.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It is good motivation when you\u2019re it.<\/p>\n
Brian: Yeah. How did you finance your medical education?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I got a scholarship.<\/p>\n
Brian: And what was the name of that scholarship?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It was called the North Carolina Governor\u2019s Scholarship.<\/p>\n
Brian: Okay. The next section has us turn to the residency period of your training. Were there any other thoughts on your time at UNC that you wanted to share?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: No, I thought it was great. I really enjoyed it even if I \u2013 and I say this all the time. Even if I never practiced medicine for a day in my life, I had a wonderful time. So, it was never a big thing to be a doctor. I enjoyed medical school. I enjoyed the process. I enjoyed the people, the stimulation, the insights that it afforded me. It was a very stimulating time.<\/p>\n
Brian: My grandfather had his 90th birthday party this past week. And he\u2019s a retired physician. And his advice to me was just to always remember to enjoy the journey along the way while I\u2019m in my training. It\u2019ll be gone before you know it.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It\u2019s true. But I had a good time.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. So, turning to after you left the UNC School of Medicine, what was residency like compared to the rigor of medical school?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, internship was a lot easier than medical school. I was surprised at California, how slack they were. People would show up for rounds in the morning. And they\u2019d say, \u201cI didn\u2019t get a chance to see the chest X-ray,\u201d or, \u201cI didn\u2019t do this.\u201d It was just a little different than what the rigor and the attention to detail that I was used to in Chapel Hill. But it was good. I did most of my internship \u2013 Stanford used to have a hospital in San Jose called Santa Clara Medical Center. And that\u2019s where I did most of my internship was down there. And it was, of course, a rotation in pediatrics, a rotation in all the different things.<\/p>\n
And I think I came to Stanford for four months of that year doing pulmonary medicine, ICU, and a couple other things. But it was a very good place. And then residency was \u2013 gosh, I couldn\u2019t ask for a better residency. And compared to a lot of other places, I considered it \u2013 it was a gentleman\u2019s residency. There weren\u2019t any divas. And I had a very good time. And it was a wonderful place to do it. Palo Alto was a beautiful place at that time. It still is, but it wasn\u2019t as crowded as it is now. I used to make it from Tahoe to home in three and a half hours. Now you\u2019re lucky if you can do it in seven if you can do it. It just depends on the traffic. That\u2019s why I left Palo Alto when I did.<\/p>\n
It was just you were landlocked. You wanted to maybe go to the city and do something. You can\u2019t leave at 5:00 and see a 7:30 play. You may very well not make it. And so, I don\u2019t know. And the people in my residency class \u2013 like I said, I had just got back from a wedding from somebody that was \u2013 we stayed close. It was fun. And some of the people I saw this weekend, we were interns together and stuff. So, we\u2019ve done a lot of trips together. I had a very good experience through medicine, met good people.<\/p>\n
Brian: Did you always have in mind that you wanted to leave North Carolina for residency? Or did that just come out of the process?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I did apply here. But I think that I did wanna go see something else. And I think I applied to UC San Francisco. There weren\u2019t that many top-notch anesthesia programs. Dr. Sue Kyoko who\u2019s chairman of the department here had urged me to do something just different and reach.<\/p>\n
Brian: Sounds like it worked out well.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It worked out pretty well for me.<\/p>\n
Brian: During that time, was there a special moment or event when you felt like you came into your own as a medical professional during residency?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: For me, I\u2019m still learning today. I don\u2019t read as much as I used to. But as I used to tell people before I left practice seven years ago, there\u2019s only two drugs on my cart that was there when I first started practicing. And the machine was a lot different than the phone I use. Now the iPhone is doing the recording. But no, I don\u2019t think you ever come into your own. You become comfortable with yourself. You become comfortable with the fact that you\u2019re not perfect, and you will make mistakes. And you become comfortable hopefully to be a strong enough person to own up to them. I think that in my medicine \u2013 I worked in a lot of different venues.<\/p>\n
When I first finished my residency, I went and worked in private practice for 10 years. Then I said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m gonna come in Chapel Hill.\u201d Then I did that. And then a doctor \u2013 I forgot his name \u2013 said, \u201cOh, we need someone to do pain.\u201d So, I went and did a pain fellowship at Stanford. And then they say, \u201cWell, we can\u2019t hire you.\u201d It was 1992. And so, I said, \u201cOkay,\u201d because like I said before \u2013 and I had come back before \u2013 this was the second time I\u2019d come back. And then I said, \u201cOkay.\u201d And did the whole interview stuff and dances. I always wanted to come back and teach here and work here. It didn\u2019t work out. So, I went back.<\/p>\n
And I worked at Kaiser Permanentewhich was very interesting for me because before that, I worked in private practice. Kaiser was an eye-opener because it was like a team approach. And they teach good medicine. Good people, really. And I worked in a different Kaiser one in San Jose where 40 percent of the people were fellowship trained. And anesthesia, they weren\u2019t using nurses at that time. So, only physician anesthesia. And so, I was there. But still, it was a different vibe too and in terms of the respect you paid everybody, in terms of the receptionist. It was different then. The captain of the ship mentality in private practice, years ago.<\/p>\n
And so, in that whole thing of human relations, interpersonal relations. And that\u2019s where I really learned to be a team player. So, that was a real eye-opener for me. But I got tired of driving 34 miles every morning. So, I went back, and I worked at Stanford on their faculty for a year and a half. Then I worked in the Palo Alto Clinic for a couple of years. Then I went and worked for a closer Kaiser for a year. Then I went to Oregon for a year. Then I came to Santa Barbara for 13 years, and then I retired. So, I\u2019ve worked in a lot of different avenues. Enjoyed them all. And so, it was good.<\/p>\n
Brian: Gotcha. During your career, did you have any mentors or older physicians that you went to for advice or things like that?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Not really. I went to more my contemporaries for advice because like I said, things, especially in anesthesia, evolve a great deal. But most of my \u2013 if I went to advice for things, it was \u2013 if I needed things, I\u2019d go to my mentors. But every time I go back to Stanford, I would see one of my advisors, Jay Brodsky who was very close to me, and just \u2013 and some of my professors over there, they would saycome skiing with us this weekend. It was a really, like I said, just wonderful experience. It was a nice \u2013 I had a good time.<\/p>\n
Brian: And one thing that isn\u2019t on here but I\u2019m curious about is anesthesia as a field I feel like has undergone some pretty dramatic changes with the rise of, as you said, CRNAs and some of that. What changes did you see in the field during your career?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: The CRNAs have always been very front and center here in eastern North Carolina and the southeastern United States. People were not looking for anesthesiologists. They were looking for CRNAs. That\u2019s how they make their money. They charge the same thing. And they run a staple in it. But being able to hand off to them is a different thing. It took me a long time to be comfortable with that. But one of the changes now is that] now they\u2019re trying to do techs not even a CRNA. But at Stanford, they were very \u2013 it just depends on different hospitals, different places. Departments are strong.<\/p>\n
At Stanford, except for the cardiac surgery department and the EMT and the ortho, just general surgery wasn\u2019t very strong. But the anesthesia department had a great reputation. So, at Mass General, it was a surgeon\u2019s hospital, and it still is a surgeon\u2019s hospital. So, it just depends. And same thing at Duke when Samson was there. The only changes in anesthesia I think was just that depends on what you\u2019re having, what you\u2019re doing. But it\u2019s still attention to detail. And what drew me to anesthesia is 1) I like it allowed me to apply my pharmacology, my anatomy, my medicine, my everything. And also, I didn\u2019t have to have an office.<\/p>\n
And so, I liked that. And so, that\u2019s what attracted me. And then I love the intensity of it. And it worked for me. Here whenyou\u2019re on call, you\u2019re on call. When you\u2019re not, you\u2019re gone. I enjoyed it. And what a lot of people don\u2019t understand though is that I\u2019ve heard people get really bad advice. \u201cOh, he\u2019s not very good at communicating. He should think about going in the AMC.\u201d But you only have five minutes to gain someone\u2019s confidence and talk to them. And you better know what you\u2019re doing in terms of medicine.<\/p>\n
I felt my medicine background was strong enough where I could understand what\u2019s going on with the whole patient, not just the topical thing of what they\u2019re getting done. I\u2019d always prided myself on that. And I\u2019m just a technician. So, it was fun. It was a good fit for me.<\/p>\n
Brian: That\u2019s the most nuanced description of anesthesia I think I\u2019ve ever heard. That\u2019s great. I appreciate you sharing that.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: But you really have to \u2013 because you only have a few minutes. You gotta be able to sum up what\u2019s important, what\u2019s not important and try to get the patient\u2019s confidence and put them at ease and do a good job. So, it was most fun.<\/p>\n
Brian: That\u2019s great. The last section of questions here is entitled passing on the torch and thinks about your role in society a little more broadly. So, the first question I have for you was how does being a black physician matter in your workplace, family, and community to you?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I think that I\u2019ve gotten \u2013 as time goes on, I understand that I\u2019m a role model to a lot of people look up to me just because they really know when I work in a hospital, people say, \u201cI want you to give my anesthesia,\u201d because they feel comfortable with me. They like the fact that, \u201cThis person looks like I am.\u201d And so, representation is important. And I feel like it\u2019s not a burden to carry. It\u2019s a torch to carry. It\u2019s a privilege to do that, to represent because I know what people have gone through in the past. And all the different hospitals, it was good.<\/p>\n
Brian: I know you and I had a chance to chat a little bit before we started recording, and you mentioned your work with the NAACP now. Can you tell me about that work and what inspired you to get involved with that organization?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, when I came back to North Carolina, I had a strong sense that things had changed in terms of the political climate. I was amazed that things seemed to have regressed from when we left in 1993. And so, I did a lot of reading and talking. And there was a book called Dark Money by Jane Mayer. Chapter 13 answered my question. It talked about Mark Meadows up in the mountain and how these different super PACsgot together and decided that all politics truly was local.<\/p>\n
And they started taking over the different state legislators. And that really alarmed me and just keyed me in on what I had to do. And so, I felt I had to get involved. But in terms of \u2013 just the health and wellness, someone asked me to do that. It\u2019s all a political organization. And in terms of the contacts, and you see what\u2019s going on, and you understand the nuances of things that are happening, even with the school. For instance, the bruhaha with Nicole Smith and \u2013 I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve read that book Drink from the Well or not.<\/p>\n
Brian: I\u2019ve not.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It\u2019s a great book. So, the return here\u2019s been good. But the things did not quite move in the direction I thought they would move in as quickly.<\/p>\n
Brian: I\u2019m curious what changes you noted between when you left in 1993 and when you came back you said seven years ago to North Carolina. Was it 2015, about?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Well, people were more polarized. And the knuckleheads in the state legislature were trying to change things around and it seems like were moving backwards. They were trying to restrict people\u2019s voting rights as well as look at our board of governors in unity, things like that. But I didn\u2019t wanna go down. It was just very different. The way they handled the Silent Sam situation, those kind of things I don\u2019t think would have happened under Chris Fordham, quite honestly. But I really don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening at the medical school. One thing that really amuses me though is how many equity committees there are. I talked to Dr. Crystal Cenea couple times.<\/p>\n
And everybody\u2019s got an equity meeting. They have a zone meeting every two days that this counts or that counts. I finally dropped out of the PFA thing over at the hospital there. It was just too much. I didn\u2019t think I was really having any kind of impact. But mainly, I just wanted to bitch at them because when I first moved here, I tried to get my brother seen. He had prostate cancer. And then he wanted to go to the Lineberger Center [inaudible] [00:41:06] call four times. He was gonna call me back. I was trying to get in to see a patient. I can look and see if he does prostate cancer. \u201cOh, no. You gotta go throughLineberg] Center first. You gotta do this. You gotta do that.<\/p>\n
And then he\u2019s gotta have a history physical but if he can do all that, he wouldn\u2019t have \u2013\u201d So, I called Duke. One phone call. Boom. Got him in to see someone. That\u2019s where it first starts. And so, I just wanted to give feedback on how difficult it is to \u2013 the intake system. No one ever called me back. I called back again. Then the guy explained everything I needed. Things are different. Of course, I used to bring my family here for all of their treatment. I remember one time in 1981, mymother and father had separated.<\/p>\n
My mother was sick. So, she called my father. He came from Nashville. to Wilmington. They did an operation on her for bowel obstruction. But I can tell over the phone-I\u2019m a halfway decent physician- Something\u2019s wrong. Something\u2019s not right here. So, I pack up. I remember distinctly because the morning of the air controller strike \u2013 they let me on a plane. I had a whole ICU box with me, everything from dopamine drip on down. Something wasn\u2019t right. Walk in my mother\u2019s room. She\u2019s icteric. They\u2019re feeding her. These are the olden days when you can walk out and look at the chart. She\u2019s got air in the diaphragm. She\u2019s got a white cell count of 23,000.<\/p>\n
So, I get on the phone. I call Dr. Kapizi here. I say, \u201cLook, I wanna get my mother out of this hospital.\u201d This was UNC. This was the New Hanover Hospital down there. I said, \u201cSomething\u2019s wrong here,\u201d because I called a friend of mine. I said, \u201cMan, I need you to check up. Go in, check her out. Make sure her kidneys \u2013 put in a CMP. See what\u2019s going on. Something\u2019s not right here.\u201d Basically, she had another bowel perforation that they had missed. And I ended up \u2013 and then it became a huge thing of, \u201cOh, this is just people acting bad. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Your mother \u2013\u201d I said, \u201cNo.\u201d I finally had to tell my family.<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI\u2019m leaving now. And she may well die If she stays here, and you listen to that old, white-haired man, she\u2019s definitely gonna die.\u201d They said, \u201cOkay. Let me go with you.\u201d So, I basically took her on my back all the way here to Chapel Hill. First thing they did was roll her into the ER and give her blood. And she put in a Swann. She\u2019s in septic shock. Here they were feeding her. But I could tell that \u2013 I could just see it because \u2013 and that kind of stuff. So, the hospital here has been really good to me. My uncle was sick with liver cancer. I brought him here. I brought everyone here. And I tried to continue doing that except that it\u2019s so difficult to get people seen here now.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s much easier at Duke. It\u2019s got a much more polished intake. But that\u2019s just the way it\u2019s been \u2013 I\u2019ve had nothing but good experiences. And my youngest brother, who was an AIDS patient here, he was seen by Charlie van der Horstearly on. I remember when Charlie first started. So, I\u2019ve got long history at UNC. It\u2019s been good to me. I don\u2019t mean to be beating on it or anything.<\/p>\n
Brian: It sounds like very valid experiences that you\u2019re sharing too.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Yeah. So, I\u2019ve had very good experiences here, in general. But it\u2019s been bad. But it works for me.<\/p>\n
Brian: Yeah. In you work with some of these equity groups at present day, have you seen any things that you thought have been good outcomes from those?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: They feed on themselves. I have a sign in my office up there in my library that says, \u201cNot just words.\u201d I see just a lot of words, a lot of good intentions, and a lot of people floating from job to job to job to job. And I was interested because I was thinking of Dr.Cene. All the things that they just laid on her. She\u2019s chief equity this and that for all of North \u2013 they just laid this stuff on almost every associate black professor that comes to town.<\/p>\n
Honey, Where\u2019s the dessert?<\/p>\n
Brian: We\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: The intentions are good and stuff. And it also serves as a good panel for things. But I really haven\u2019t seen a lot of stuff come out of there. But the main thing that I\u2019d like to try to do is \u2013 and I\u2019ve tried to talk, to get a neighborhood clinic like most big cities run by students where people can just come and go. I did a survey, a very non-scientific survey over at the arena. I don\u2019t know if you know where that is on Rogers Road but where they give out free food and stuff like that to people and did a survey in two different languages. \u201cIf you were sick, where\u2019d you go?\u201d Almost everybody would go to the ER. Nobody primary intake were people who at least touch bases back.<\/p>\n
Very good here. Thank you.<\/p>\n
Brian: My next question for you was what has your experience taught you about ways to support present-day minority students?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I\u2019d say listen to them. Give them a venue where they can express themselves. And obviously, the financial thing is \u2013 it\u2019s always strong. But the most important thing is to listen to them. And that would be one of the most important things. And treat them as not in a condescending or not an exceptional way or as a token. I remember people used to ask me all the time what was your MCAT scores. They wanted to find out do you belong here, can you keep up.<\/p>\n
Brian: How did that make you feel when they asked those kinds of things?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I just obviously ruffle your feathers thinking that I don\u2019t work here because I\u2019m black because you asked this white guy over here what his MCAT scores were. You want to check my credentials. It\u2019s like the senator\u2019s interviewing this next lady to be supreme court justice. They wanna check her credentials.<\/p>\n
Brian: Yeah. And I\u2019ve had lots of friends who have had similar experiences even to this day with some things along those lines. So, I think that\u2019s a good point. And then my last thing for you is what advice would you give to current black medical students?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: I would say believe in yourself. And that would be it. Believe in yourself because that\u2019s the greatest love of all like George Benson would say. But it\u2019s a great \u2013 there\u2019s always a time when you have to believe in yourself.<\/p>\n
Brian: I think that\u2019s great advice. Thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. Any other closing thoughts you wanna share? Or do you wanna leave it there?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: For right now, I\u2019m just gonna leave it there. I\u2019ll ask you a couple of questions. Have you ever read the book, The Emperor\u2019s Malady?<\/p>\n
Brian: The history of cancer?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: Yeah.<\/p>\n
Brian: I have. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: That was a great book. I think every medical student should read that book for several reasons because all of the sudden, you realize you can\u2019t really do it by your own so much as serendipity and so much as it talks about research, primary care. I just thought that was one of the most complete books on medicine I\u2019ve ever read. I read it about two years ago because I had a dog develop an oncological problem and thought maybe I can wrap my head around this a little bit better.<\/p>\n
But I think every medical student should read that book. I just love the fact that it starts off with the patient, with leukemia. And then it ends with her doing well But it goes through all the different avenues that you can get into in medicine. And I thought no other book have I read that explains the nuances of just how they sing together. I think that should be required reading for medical students.<\/p>\n
Brian: As a history major, I would agree. I think it had good perspective to give on how much of what we have today is the work of people in the past who\u2019ve been active researchers and things like that too.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: And how it fits together. I thought that was a great book. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done mostly since I\u2019ve been retired is just read a lot. I finally got a chance to do a lot of reading. So, that\u2019s what I do.<\/p>\n
Brian: Very good. All right. Any other closing thoughts or questions?<\/p>\n
Lonnie: No. Enjoy your dessert. That looks tasty.<\/p>\n
Brian: Well, thank you so much.<\/p>\n
Lonnie: It was my pleasure.<\/p>\n[End of Audio]\n
Duration: 54 minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brian: Okay. This is Brian Wood. I\u2019m a member of the class of 2023 at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine on May 10th, 2022. Lonnie: And this is Lonnie Merrick. I\u2019m a graduate of UNC Medical School class of 1978. Brian: Thank you, Dr. Merrick, for sitting down with me. I\u2019ve got … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2395,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf-tax-class-year":[6],"class_list":["post-2371","alumni-interview","type-alumni-interview","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","acf-tax-class-year-6","odd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alumni-interview\/2371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alumni-interview"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/alumni-interview"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"acf-tax-class-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/baep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/acf-tax-class-year?post=2371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}