Oley 25 Years Ago
with John Balint, MD
As the Oley Foundation celebrates it twenty-fifth anniversary, we hope to speak to some of our early members and trustees. In this issue we share a couple of thoughts from John Balint, MD, Oley Trustee from 1982–1994, with responses from Oley staff in brackets.
Believe it or not, “in the early years, Dr. Howard and one of her patients traveled around the Northeast showing patients how to use the pumps, etc.” Patients were very instrumental in the development of smaller pumps.
Dr. Balint tells of a patient who did not want to start on parenteral nutrition (PN). At that time, Dr. Balint had a kitchen available at the hospital and he made a deal with his patient: He would give the man two weeks to develop a diet he could tolerate, and if nothing worked, the man would try PN. When the two weeks were up, the man reluctantly agreed that PN was the best option.
On the Oley Foundation, Dr. Balint recalls, “we had some times when we wondered if this was a viable enterprise.” [Indeed, in themid-1990s Oley underwent a financial crisis, which, with donor support, it was able to weather.] But “I’ve been very impressed by how Oley has seemed to establish a donor base that has generated a sustaining income.” [And Oley hopes to continue this trend as we develop an endowment.]
Dr. Balint referred to the foundation’s early goals: research, patient education, and advocacy. [Although it may not be what was originally envisioned, Oley is actively developing a quality of life study and is very interested in current research; the Foundation does, however, presently lack dedicated funds to sponsor extensive research.] “Clearly,” says Dr.Balint, “Oley has become established as an advocacy group. It does a great job at that. The conference is an interesting mix of fun and science.”