Page 29 - Delaware Medical Journal - January 2017
P. 29
OBITUARY
BERNADINE Z. PAULSHOCK, MD
Daniel L. DePietropaolo, MD
Bernadine Z. Paulshock, MD, age 88, died at her retirement
residence on October 16, 2016.
Known to generations of medical students, interns, and residents in Delaware by her initials, BZP, Dr. Paulshock lived in North Wilmington for 58 years, all spent practicing and teaching Family Medicine.
Wilmington in 1951 as an intern at the Delaware Hospital. She remained to practice Internal Medicine
and her husband, Dr. Marvin Paulshock,
a chemist, raised three children.
As the daughter of a physician herself, she had an intractable thirst for knowledge of all kinds and was seldom seen without reading material of some kind in one – or both – hands. This interest in academics led her to join
the newly established Family Practice
Residency Program at the Wilmington
Medical Center (now Christiana Care)
in 1974 as its second faculty member.
She served under her longtime friend
and program founder, Dr. Dene T.
Walters, with whom she had a lifelong
academic partnership. Her Socratic
style of teaching inspired decades of
residents and medical students to think
for themselves, beyond the conventional
wisdoms of their time. She is often remembered as the role model for women doctors during a time when they were not nearly so numerous as they are now. However, she also served as a major role model for many a young male physician as well, including this author.
The work that she did in establishing the Medical Center’s Family Medicine Clerkship for Jefferson Medical College still sets the tone for that all-important student rotation.
Everyone who knew BZP realized what a passion she had for traveling. She had some fantastic pictures of her forays into every populated continent on earth. One of the most commented-upon photos at her funeral was a picture of her and her husband seated at
a lunch while BZP hand fed an elephant that was standing behind her. She prepared for trips the way she prepared for lectures, and they were always noteworthy.
After the loss of her husband in 2008, Dr. Paulshock moved
to Stonebridge at Montgomery, a retirement community near Princeton, NJ and close to one of her daughters. At her funeral it became apparent that, for the last eight years, she had been the
same BZP we always knew
– leading book clubs and art classes, and making new friends. Several of them spoke tearfully at her memorial service. They all recognized her as a superb doctor and teacher, even though they had only known her when she was long into retirement. All three
of her children, very accomplished themselves, also spoke about her unique contributions to their lives.
During her eight year residence near Princeton, BZP remained an active mentor for Delaware family physicians from afar. She was always in touch and relished her role as an elder statesperson.
It would be a serious oversight to fail to mention the role she played in ending segregation in Delaware hospitals in the 1950s – long before the 1964 Civil Rights Act desegregated hospitals nationwide. Later she documented this
in an article she wrote in Delaware History, but she didn’t mention her own role, which was, by all accounts, considerable. She was a leader who reveled in giving credit to others.
Feeding her thirst for knowledge, Dr. Paulshock served as Editor of the Delaware Medical Journal from 1981 to 1988.
In many ways, she will always remain a leader of the Delaware Family Medicine community.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
■ DANIEL L. DePIETROPAOLO, MD was Dr. Paulshock’s resident from 1982- 1984 and a Family Practice FP faculty co-worker during 1990. He is Medical Director of Compassionate Care Hospice in Wilmington, Del.
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