Michael Abraham Shadid (1882 – August 13, 1966) was a
Lebanese
Lebanese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic
* Lebanese people
The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may al ...
physician who founded the first medical
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
in
Elk City, Oklahoma
Elk City is a city in Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 11,693 at the 2010 census, and the population was estimated at 11,577 in 2019. Elk City is located on Interstate 40 and Historic U.S. Route 66 in western Oklahom ...
, in 1931.
He was the first president of the Cooperative Health Federation of America, and an advocate for cooperative health care and preventive medicine.
Early life
Shadid was born in 1882 in
Marjayoun
Marjayoun ( ar, مرج عيون: Lebanese pronunciation), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a Lebanese town and an administrative district, the Marjeyoun District, in t ...
, Syria, a town in modern
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, but then in the
Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate
The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, ar, مُتَصَرِّفِيَّة جَبَل لُبْنَان, translit=Mutasarrifiyyat Jabal Lubnān; ) was one of the Ottoman Empire's subdivisions following the Tanzimat reform. After 1861, ther ...
. He was the youngest of 12 children. He attended the
American University's high school in Beirut. In 1898 he emigrated to the United States where he was a pack
peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods.
In England, the term was mostly used f ...
and sold cheap jewelry and buttons door to door.
Shadid attended
John Tarleton College in
Stephenville, Texas
Stephenville is a city in and the county seat of Erath County, Texas, United States. It is on the North Bosque River, which forms nearby. Founded in 1854, it is home to Tarleton State University. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was ...
, in 1902 and received a degree in medicine from
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University i ...
in 1907.
While in medical school, he joined the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
. He ran for congress as a
New Deal Democrat, but was defeated by
Sam Massingale
Samuel Chapman Massingale (August 2, 1870 – January 17, 1941) was an American politician and a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma.
Biography
Born in Quitman, Mississippi, Massingale was the son of George M. and Martha McGowan Massingale, and a ...
.
Shadid married Adeeba Shadid and they had six children: Bess, Fred, Ethel, Alexander, Ruth, and Helen.
Career
In 1923, Shadid left his successful practice in
Carter, Oklahoma
Carter is a town in Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 256 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Carter is located at (35.218187, -99.505054).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all ...
, and settled in Elk City. He found that farmers of the region did not receive adequate medical care and had no affordable hospital. He called a meeting of his farmer patients and proposed a cooperatively owned clinic and hospital in Elk City. The Oklahoma Farmers' Union supported the measure and the hospital was opened by the Community Health Association, Inc., in August 1931. The reception from the medical community was icy. Although he had been a member of the Beckham County Medical Society for over 20 years, the society expelled him. The Oklahoma Board of Medical Examiners attempted to revoke Shadid's license, and the State Medical Association tried to get a bill passed against medical cooperatives in the Oklahoma Legislature. The bill was defeated with the help of the Oklahoma Farmers' Union.
The
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's stat ...
(AMA) declared that his cooperative was unethical because it put laypersons in charge of business decisions.
The union took control of the hospital and the health plan in 1934. By 1939, Community Hospital had served 15,000 farmers in southwestern Oklahoma.
During the later years of his life, Shadid suffered from diabetes, resulting in the amputation of both legs. He traveled to Russia alone in a wheelchair to lecture on socialized medicine.
Later life
Shadid traveled throughout the United States and Europe and gave speeches advocating for cooperative health care. He helped launch a health co-op in
Deer Park, Washington
Deer Park is a city in Spokane County, Washington. The population was 3,652 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,017 in 2000.
History
North of Spokane, the city of Deer Park was officially incorporated on June 24, 1908. Deer Park got i ...
, and assisted the organizing committee that led to the formation of
Group Health Cooperative
Group Health Cooperative, (formerly known as Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound), later more commonly known as Group Health, was a Seattle, Washington based nonprofit healthcare organization.
Business model
Established in , Group Health prov ...
. He helped found the Cooperative Health Federation of America in 1947. He served as the foundation's president from 1947 to 1949. In 1960, he built Hospital Haramoon in the Lebanese village where he was born.
Shadid died in Kansas on August 13, 1966, and is buried in Oklahoma City at Fairlawn Cemetery. He was inducted into the
Cooperative Development Foundation's Cooperative Hall of Fame in 1978.
Works
*
*
*
*
*Michael A. Shadid Papers, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadid, Michael
Physicians from Oklahoma
American cooperative organizers
1882 births
1966 deaths
Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States
Oklahoma Democrats
Members of the Socialist Party of America