lš Viekšnių medicinos istorijos

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Ambulatorija; Antanas Biržiška; Dr. A. Biržiškos sveikatos namai; Ligoninė; Medicininė pagalba; Medicinos raida; Sveikatos apsauga; Sveikatos centras; Sveikatos namai; Sveikatos punktas; Viekšniai; Viekšnių medikai; Antanas Biržiška; Doctors of Viekšniai; Dr. A. Biržiškos Health care centre; Health Home; Health centre; Health protection; History of medicine; Hospital; Medical aid; Outpatient clinic; Viekšniai.

ENAt the end of 1851 the tsar approved a decree, by which the position of a medical assistant was to be established in each village community. There is no information about the fact if a medical assistant was appointed to Viekšniai following this decree. To implement the decree on the improvement of medical services of 1887, amedical assistant's office was established in Viekšniai. Judelis Zarcinas worked in this office, later to be replaced by Iiis son Leiba Zarcinas. Before World War I and in the years of German occupation Kazimieras Butkus worked as a medical assistant. In 1864 the physician Bonaventūra Andriejauskas lived and had a private medical practice in Viekšniai. A dedicated medical practitioner Antanas Biržiška, who won fame as an obstetrician, children's doctor, and therapist, lived in the town in 1880-1922. His all three sons Mykolas, Vaclovas, and Viktoras acquired higher education and became professors in independent Lithuania. It was not until 1938 that an outpatient clinic was established in Viekšniai. Patients were treated by private doctors, several of whom lived in this town at different times. In accordance with the rales of the improving of medical service for inhabitants announced in 1938, a health care centre with the positions of a physician and a midwife had to be established in Viekšniai.In 1937, seeking to perpetuate the memory of his father, physician Antanas Biržiška, his son Mykolas Biržiška donated 40 thousand litas to build a health care centre in Viekšniai. With an extra contribution from the municipalities, a brick two-storey health care centre, modern for that time, was built in 1938. Its staff consisted of a physician, a midwife, and a nurse. In 1944 the centre was destroyed during the ivar, and the physician Benediktas Jankauskas retreated to the West. After the war, until 1951, when the health care centre was repaired, an outpatient clinic and a delivery ward operated in other premises not adapted for this purpose. When the repair works of the health care were finished, in 1952-57 it housed a district hospital, and in 1957-77 - a regional hospital. From 1977 only an outpatient clinic remained in Viekšniai; in 1996 it regained its former name - Dr. Antanas Biržiška's health care centre. 1997 the house was restructured into a public health institution. In 2002-03 major repairs of the building of the Viekšniai health care centre were made. Since 1990 Aušrelė Gurauskaitė has been the head of the Viekšniai health care centre. In 2005 she was conferred the name of merited physician of Lithuania. Gurauskaitė is an active public figure. [From the publication]