When thinking about landmarks in Sturgis, the Massa-Berry Clinic has to come to mind. Yet, it almost never came to pass. For a year after the hospital was built, it would remain closed as a dispute threatened to end it before it ever really started. That dispute revolved around Dr. Lawrence Massa.
New Hospital
Whispers about a new hospital in Sturgis had been ongoing for years. It wouldn’t be until 1946 that those whispers would become something more, as the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce led a push to have the matter voted on. It would soon become overwhelmingly clear that Meade County as a whole supported the creation of a new hospital.
It wouldn’t be long before work began on raising the funds for the new facility, which was set to be integral in a coordinated hospital system that spanned the Black Hills. In 1948, the Hospital Board would be organized, and shortly after, the hospital would be incorporated as the Sturgis Community Memorial Hospital.
Floor plans for the hospital would eventually be approved in December of 1950, and the time everyone was waiting for, the groundbreaking on the new hospital, finally came in May of 1951. The quarter-million dollar project would take just over a year to complete, but once the final inspection was done, those doors would remain shut.
Dispute
Initial plans had called for the new hospital to open in September of 1952. But as the date approached, rumblings began to arise among the staff. The rumblings would quickly break to the surface, and instead of the grand opening that was expected, the hospital would remain shut for another year. Everything was ready to go, the rooms furnished, equipment in place; but some of the staff refused to function with a “mixed staff.”
The issue centered around one man, Dr. Lawrence Massa. The problem, he was an osteopathic doctor. While today, many of the practices of osteopathic medicine have been incorporated into medical practices in general, in the 1950s, it was seen as a radical new system.
Osteopathic medicine was created as a reformation of current medical practices in the late 1800s. The founder, Andrew Taylor Still, saw modern medicine as having been morally corrupt, lacking credible efficacy, and ignoring the underlying causes of diseases.
While Massa would practice under the same authority granted by the state board of medicine, as any other medical did, according to the American Medical Association, he was involved in a cult. The AMA wanted nothing to do with osteopathic medicine, and declared that it was unethical for any medical physician to voluntarily associate with an osteopath.
It was this view that the Black Hills District Medical Society took, and in so doing, took a stand against any of its members working in the same hospital as an osteopath. For them, either Massa went, or they would.
The dispute would expand further. While staffing issues were a major problem, there was another threat. The Benedictine Sisters, who had contracted to operate the hospital, were attempting to back out as well. They feared that operating a hospital with a “mixed staff” would prevent them from receiving the cooperation of physicians both in Sturgis, but also in their other hospitals, as well as their school of nursing in Rapid City.
Reverend Mother Bonaventure was clear, “We cannot operate the hospital with this condition.” That condition being Massa.
The hospital board would refuse to release them from their contract, hoping a solution could be reached.
For the part of Massa, as soon as the dispute began to arise, he had volunteered to withdraw from the hospital. But the board would have none of that, so Massa agreed to continue his cooperation to an open staff. Overall, he was committed to a single idea; the hospital was built for the community as a whole, and take care of those needs.
Negotiations
As the new year approached, the dispute was nowhere nearer to a settlement. The hospital was set on having an open staff, which had been spelled out in their articles of incorporation, which stated that there would be no discrimination against any practitioner of healing arts who were licensed in the state. This stood directly opposed to the Black Hills District Medical Society, who would not, and could not permit any of its members to serve in such an open hospital.
The community would quickly rally behind Massa though. The hospital board would receive over 400 letters by January of 1953, protesting any change to the articles of incorporation that would prevent Massa from being on staff. Nearly 1300 other letters would be received from the heads of local families that fully endorsed Massa. Locals were speaking, and they were all saying the same thing, we want Dr. Massa.
Such words would fall on dear ears among the Medical Society. In February of 1953, they would once again double down on their stance. Releasing a new resolution, they declared that their members “may not provide diagnostic services with an osteopath, consult with an osteopath or utilize the same hospital facilities where osteopaths are staff members.”
This deadlock would remain for another 3 months. While some assumed that it was the AMA in which had forbid the Medical Society from allowing their members to work in the new hospital, it would come to light that that wasn’t the case. Instead, it was the Medical Society who made the decision, even though the AMA would have permitted it.
Breaking Through
After nearly a year after the completion of the construction of the hospital, in June of 1953, a breakthrough was finally being made. The hospital board would experience a shake-up. Four of the seven members resigned. The board president even attempted to resign, but the board refused to allow it. The hospital was set on opening, even if Massa was the lone staff member.
At their next meeting, they declared that the hospital would open on September 1, a year after it was supposed to initially open. They would have an open staff, and Massa would be there. The Benedictine sisters would be freed from their contract, and Mrs. Don Seely would be hired as manager. A new board president was also announced; John Keffler would succeed Dr. Donald Hines.
On August 30th, 1953, a dedication was held for the new hospital, with over 1200 people attending. Two days later, on September 1st, the hospital was finally opened. As the first patients entered in, it was to Massa that they would go.