Founding seat of ECU's Department of Family Medicine lauded for beingness commitment
Published Feb 02, 2023 by
A plaque connected the recently named James G. “Jim” Jones Chair’s Suite successful East Carolina University’s Department of Family Medicine honors Jones and an immense database of titles for which helium is known.
Advocate. Champion. Family physician. Visionary. Mentor. Counselor. Friend.
Words praising Jones, founding seat of ECU’s Department of Family Medicine astatine the Brody School of Medicine, and his life’s enactment came easy and emphatically arsenic his interaction connected ECU and wellness attraction successful North Carolina was celebrated Jan. 27 astatine a luncheon with authorities leaders successful wellness attraction and higher education.
East Carolina University Chancellor Philip Rogers and UNC-Pembroke Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings airs with proclamations honoring Jim Jones, ECU Department of Family Medicine founding chair. (ECU photograph by George Crocker)
NATIVE AMERICAN HONOR BESTOWED
Proclamations from East Carolina University, the Town of Pembroke, the Robeson County Board of Commissioners and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina paid homage to the exceptional accomplishments of Jones, founding seat of ECU’s Department of Family Medicine.
On behalf of the Lumbee Tribe, UNC-Pembroke Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings presented Jones with the proclamation. Included successful the grant was an eagle feather, which the Native American people has support to bestow.
“In American Indian culture, since the eagle flies truthful high, it is believed to beryllium the closest carnal to the creator,” Cummings said. “The eagle is strength, contented and courage. When fixed an eagle feather, that idiosyncratic is being acknowledged arsenic the best.”
Cummings recognized that astir North Carolina leaders of Jones’ lasting besides would person The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state’s highest civilian honor, but they did not bestow it connected him arsenic helium had antecedently received the award.
Thousands of North Carolinians person benefitted from Jones’ power connected household medicine. Many were cared for straight by Jones arsenic a practicing physician, much were treated by physicians trained by Jones during his 20 years starring ECU’s Department of Family Medicine. Generations much volition beryllium cared for by household physicians due to the fact that of the instauration helium built. Cummings said Jones has lived the biblical phrase, “to whom overmuch is given, overmuch is required.”
“I judge Jim Jones has lived nether the shadiness of this admonition his full life,” Cummings said. “Could immoderate different connection amended summarize Jim’s life, and the idiosyncratic helium is, and his accomplishments?”
— Patricia Earnhardt Tyndall
Jones said helium wished determination was connection beyond the connection emotion to picture his feelings for his colleagues and friends who had gathered successful his honor. Though guests leaned successful to perceive each connection from Jones, it was a time for others to laud him with their admiration, appreciation and accolades. Those honors were bestowed successful an auditorium utilized regular to amended aboriginal physicians.
In designation of Jones’ distinguished career, friends and colleagues raised much than $333,000 to found the Dr. James G. Jones Distinguished Professorship successful Family Medicine successful the ECU Brody School of Medicine. ECU volition use for a $167,000 lucifer from the authorities of North Carolina to endow the professorship ensuring that Jones’ bequest lives connected for generations.
ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers shared the university’s ngo and halfway commitments of pupil success, nationalist work and determination transformation.
“Those words person meaning. They are rooted successful our DNA,” Rogers said. “I’m not definite we could person a amended embodiment of ECU’s ngo successful enactment than Dr. Jones.”
During Rogers’ tenure arsenic legislative liaison and main of unit astatine ECU, helium experienced Jones’ interaction firsthand erstwhile the request for a household medicine halfway was brought to the chancellor’s office.
“There were immoderate omniscient radical who said, ‘We tin get this done due to the fact that we cognize the antheral who tin assistance marque this hap and that’s Jim Jones.’ And folks, helium did,” Rogers said. “We’re sitting successful this country contiguous arsenic a effect of his imaginativeness and his enactment successful processing this $36.8 cardinal state-of-the-art household medicine center.”
ECU is capable to present connected its ngo due to the fact that of advances that basal connected the shoulders of radical similar Jones, who acceptable the instauration for wherever we are today, Rogers said.
“I say, yet again, however grateful we are and however arrogant we are to telephone you a friend,” Rogers said.
Chelley Alexander, seat of the Department of Family Medicine, welcomed Jones and his guests to the location of household medicine.
“This beauteous installation was envisioned and championed by Dr. Jim Jones,” she said. “It is unthinkable to person the accidental to enactment present each day, and it is simply a chiseled grant to service successful the aforesaid relation arsenic Dr. Jones.”
Alexander said the Department of Family Medicine became an invaluable plus to ECU and eastbound North Carolina lone due to the fact that of Jones’ unthinkable enactment establishing the department. She noted his determination successful making it 1 of the champion household medicine programs successful the state and doing each the behind-the-scenes enactment to make a state-of-the-art household medicine center.
“I’m blessed to study that ECU Family Medicine is thriving,” Alexander said. “We person trained implicit 400 household medicine residents since the commencement of the programme that Dr. Jones envisioned. It is by lasting connected the shoulders of the giants successful the subject that we are palmy and Dr. Jones acknowledgment to your imaginativeness and advocacy we person built connected your work.”
Alexander shared that ECU consistently has the highest percent of graduates successful North Carolina choosing to spell into household medicine and has been successful the apical 10 schools successful the federation for the percent of students who participate household medicine programs.
Determined advocacy
Jones’ enactment to found a aesculapian schoolhouse for grooming much household medicine doctors began 50 years agone erstwhile helium was president of the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians and a practicing doc successful Jacksonville. UNC System president Bill Friday asked him to found a household medicine session astatine ECU.
UNC-Pembroke Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings, a friend, workfellow and co-chair of the Jones endowment readying committee, described Jones arsenic impervious that circumstances bash not find wherever you spell successful life; they lone archer wherever you start.
Jones was 5 years aged erstwhile his parents near him to beryllium raised by his grandparents successful agrarian Robeson County. Cummings described a punctuation Jones’ grandma often recited, “Do a job, large oregon small, bash it well, oregon not astatine all.”
A subordinate of the Lumbee Tribe, Jones went connected to beryllium a distinguished alumnus of Wake Forest University, the archetypal American Indian to postgraduate from Bowman Gray School of Medicine, arsenic good arsenic the archetypal to go president of a objective section successful a aesculapian schoolhouse successful the United States. Upon completing his internship astatine Grady Hospital successful Atlanta and residency with the U.S. Navy astatine Camp Lejeune, Jones established a thriving aesculapian signifier successful Jacksonville.
Cummings said Jones dreamed of pursuing Albert Schweitzer and becoming a aesculapian missionary successful Africa. Instead, erstwhile it wasn’t fashionable to do, “he became our nation’s biggest advocator successful household medicine,” Cummings said. “He, and a precise prime group, forced the N.C. General Assembly to look astatine wellness attraction successful agrarian North Carolina.”
Cummings work messages from letters sent from Gov. Roy Cooper and erstwhile politician Jim Hunt recognizing Jones arsenic a elephantine successful medicine.
“I sincerely admit your dedication to bringing aesculapian attraction to the mediocre and to agrarian North Carolina,” Cooper’s missive said.
Hunt wrote of his precocious respect for Jones: “Jim is 1 of the apical visionary leaders successful our state’s past and 1 of the giants successful helping marque North Carolina the authorities it is today. A antheral of large humility, Jim is simply a existent North Carolina treasure.”
Howard Stein, from Jacksonville, archetypal encountered Jones successful 1963 arsenic a 10-year-old diligent successful Jones’ caller aesculapian practice. With large affection, Stein described a relationship that has go a 60-year emotion matter betwixt Jones and his family.
“I retrieve my begetter saying that helium cannot ideate idiosyncratic gathering Dr. Jones and not liking him,” Stein said. “He’s a feline that has an astonishing personality. He is everything that you privation a antheral to beryllium from commencement to finish.”
“I’ve been a fortunate feline successful each way,” Stein added. “He has been my doctor, a mentor, grief counsellor and spiritual advisor to maine erstwhile I needed one. Most of each helium has been my friend.”
Mission fulfilled
Jones looked retired astatine the country of friends and began to admit their enactment successful household medicine, which helium credited with his occurrence and crushed for the honors bestowed successful his name.
“I americium amazed by what a fantastic happening that has happened here,” Jones said. “I americium humbled and I americium precise deeply, profoundly appreciative.”
Jones was instrumental successful advocating for ECU’s household medicine programme and facilities. (ECU photograph by Rhett Butler)
The practitioner turned teacher again arsenic Jones provided a maestro people describing however a mediocre Lumbee lad from Robeson County became a physician, recovered his ngo and transformed household medicine successful North Carolina.
Jones said for a agelong time, the utmost eastbound and occidental parts of our authorities were hinterlands that academia ignored. He was persuaded to judge existing aesculapian schools would not bid household physicians arsenic East Carolina was proposing to do.
When Jones was archetypal called to conscionable with President Friday, it was an effort to person Jones backmost disconnected of his thought of grooming household physicians. Jones was inclined to bash the opposite. He led the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians to unanimously enactment ECU’s effort to unfastened a aesculapian schoolhouse and to amended authorities leaders connected the request for section physicians.
“I knew if we didn’t bid doctors determination would beryllium nary 1 to attraction for patients successful agrarian areas,” Jones said. “It turns retired that astir of the sitting legislators had a household doctor. I privation you each to instrumentality a small booth close extracurricular their offices and fto them cognize who you are.”
Jones loved being a practicing doc and erstwhile helium was asked to travel to ECU to pb household medicine, helium turned his efforts toward uncovering idiosyncratic other to capable the role.
“I didn’t truly privation to travel to beryllium rather honorable with you,” Jones said. “I agreed to travel for 2 years. I stayed 20.”
Jones said helium thought of himself initially arsenic destined to beryllium a missionary. He believes his clip arsenic the founding seat of household medicine astatine ECU was God’s mode of utilizing his service.
“I recovered my destiny and I judge my spot of work was not successful Africa,” Jones said. “My ngo tract has been to make doctors for agrarian North Carolina.”
ECU is successful the nationalist signifier of the Pursue Gold run to rise fractional a cardinal dollars. This ambitious effort volition make caller paths to occurrence for Pirates connected campus, crossed the state and astir the world. Donor gifts during the run volition support america perpetually starring and acceptable to beforehand what’s possible. Learn much at pursuegold.ecu.edu.
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