Dr. Cohen by Donnie Sacchetti
As I look back growing up in the North End, health care was usually provided through our local health clinics. My mother would routinely take me to the health clinic located on Hull St. for various child ailments and routine check ups. On one occasion I apparently stuck a ceci up my nose and it had lodged up there; my mother not knowing what was causing the bulbous infection took me to the clinic which thankfully removed it! ( I don’t do that anymore )
Another visit was of a more serious nature as I was suffering from severe throat pain and the clinic informed my mother that I had tonsillitis. They were severely infected and had to be removed. But there was one problem. She was informed that hospital beds would be hard to impossible to obtain as it was 1945, WWII was still raging and wounded service men were being treated and cared for at all our local hospitals.
At that time there was a local Dr practicing in the North End whose office was located on Richmond Street, he was Dr Cohen, and he made house calls! Dr Cohen was familiar to my family as he had treated my aunt Helen, a teenager, who lived on Cross street, for a severely infected leg wound caused by scraping her leg. So my mother called Dr. Cohen. As my mother would tell the story as I was growing up, he came to our apartment, located at 150 Salem Street, checked me out and confirmed the clinic’s diagnosis. They had to be removed. He would do all he could to secure a bed at a hospital, but lacking that he would remove them at home! And so it was, he arrived at my apartment with his assistant who administered ether and my only memory of the whole ordeal was a dark brown rubber mask being placed on my face. I’m still here today as testament to his skill and dedication to our families in the North End. Borrowing a line from the Godfather movie said by Hyman Roth. “ this was a great man, and there’s not even a plaque or a sign post “ to Dr Cohen! God bless him and what he did for all of us!
Thanks
Donnie Sacchetti