Mercy Flip Book

DR. HARRY E. DAVIS MERCY’S FIRST CHIEF OF PEDIATRIC SERVICES

He was called “Dr. Davis” by everyone but his patients. They called him “Dr. Harry.” Virtually every child in Portland knew Dr. Harry because for many years he vaccinated the entire fifth grade at the Portland public schools. If they did not see him at school, they might have seen him volunteering at the City of Portland’s hygiene clinic, the Female Orphans Home, or they might have been one of his private practice patients. One of six children, he was the first in his family to be born in America. Harry grew up in Portland, then went to Tufts College and graduated from its medical school in 1919. He trained in pediatrics, a relatively new medical field at the time. After residency, he returned to Portland to establish his own practice, setting up an office on Congress Street near the Queen ‘s Hospital (later renamed Mercy Hospital). When the new Mercy Hospital opened on State Street in 1943, Dr. Davis moved his office nearby and became the Chief of Pediatric Services, a position he held until his death in 1963.

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