Professor Adam Pąchalski: a half century of commitment to the development of orthopedics, traumatology, and rehabilitation in Cracow
Journal Title: Ortopedia Traumatologia Rehabilitacja - Year 2004, Vol 6, Issue 4
Abstract
This article describes the life achievements to date of Prof. Adam Pąchalski, specialist in orthopedics, traumatology, and rehabilitation, creator and first Chief of Staff of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation in Witkowice, and inspirer of the formation of the Cracow Rehabilitation Center. Born in Cracow in 1926, as a young man he was a soldier in the Home Army, twice wounded in action against the Nazi occupiers and several times decorated for bravery, to this day he maintains close contact with his old comrades-in-arms, to whom he extends not only friendship, but also special medial care. After the war he finished medical school and began his career as an orthopedics and Brigade Infirmary Commander in the Polish Army (where he currently holds the rank of colonel in the reserve). After leaving military service, however, he associated the balance of his career with Cracow, where he completed his doctorate, habilitation, and professorship. He was a student of Cracow’s brilliant orthopedics, Juliusz Zaremba, and spent several scientific internships in important rehabilitation centers around the world, including the Rizzoli Institute in Bologna and the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke-Mandeville Hospital in England. As a young orthopedist and active alpine climber, he was selected in 1962 and again in 1966 as chief physician for the Second and Fourth Polish Hindukush Expeditions, and was a member of the assault team that was the first to approach and conquer the summit of Kuh-e-Tez in the East Hindukush, in Afghanistan. Later on, he was on several occasions named voivodeship and regional specialist for medical rehabilitation, and also created and directed several important rehabilitation centers in south-central Poland. In 1990, after many years of effort to create a major rehabilitation center in Cracow, he obtained the consent of the authorities to take over a military facility in the Wola Justowska district of Cracow, which is now the home of the Cracow Rehabilitation Center. Together with the current Director, Prof. Bogusław Frańczuk, he continues to take an active part in developing this center. Adam Pąchalski has educated several generations of rehabilitation specialists, who promulgate his methods and approach to comprehensive rehabilitation, and this fully justifies giving him the title of “Father of the Cracow School of Rehabilitation”. Now officially in retirement, he comes to work in the Clinic every day, as a consultant, and is active on a professional, scientific, and volunteer level. He has been the promoter of 35 doctorates, and 4 habilitations, and is the author of over 190 scientific publications in the fields of orthopedics, traumatology, and rehabilitation. He continues to participate in volunteer activities on behalf of the disabled, as President of the Cracow Branch of the Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, a post to which he has been re-elected for 8 consecutive four-year terms. He is a genuine physician and humanist.
Authors and Affiliations
Maria Pąchalska
Keywords
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