Little known fact:
Joe Satinsky (father of Jonathan and Daniel) and Victor Purcell (maybe originally Pushinsky?) Satinsky followed their dreams and traveled to Hollywood in the 1950’s to find fame and fortune in the MOTION PICTURE business. Details are not clear, but they Went Broke, the story goes and had incurred much debt in the process.
Family lore recounts that “Minnie’s boys” helped them out financially.
Joe and Vic had to restart their lives in the Philadelphia area.
Quotes from Vic’s FACEBOOK page:
“Heart surgeon and co-creator of coronary-bypass surgery; the “Renaissance Doctor”, he was also a poet, a playwright, a painter, a clarinetist, a fencer and an Aikido black belt. Taught himself psychiatry and ran programs for disadvantaged youth.”
BORN: December 23, 1912
A pioneer in surgical procedure and invention, a pioneer in the education and motivation of scientifically-inclined high-schoolers, and so much more. A first-rate human being.
During the summers of 1963 and 1964 I was a student in the NSF-funded “Bioscience Program” for scientifically-inclined high school students, offered at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, and founded and run by Dr. Victor P. Satinsky. Dr. Satinsky was a pioneer in many ways. This is one more that should not be forgotten. He provided a unique opportunity for so many Philadelphia-area high school students to explore the biomedical field first-hand, and working with people of Dr. Satinsky’s caliber.
Biography
Dr. Victor P. Satinsky, Class of ’34, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, a cardiovascular surgeon at Hahnemann Hospital who helped develop coronary-bypass surgery. He is also credited with 30 major medical innovations and the invention of the Satinsky clamp, now a standard instrument in cardiovascular surgery.
Satinsky Vena Cava Clamp
Product Number: 52-1695
10-1/4″ Vena Cava Clamp Serrated
Sklar’s® Satinsky Vena Cava Clamp is a ratcheted, finger ring vascular clamp specifically designed for controlling blood flow in the vena cava vein. It is used in a variety of cardiovascular and cardiothoracic procedures. Long shanks and a unique, angled, u-shape design allows this instrument to clamp difficult to reach, full or partial sections of the vein. The tips are cross-serrated to firmly grip tissue. The length of this product is 10-1/4 inches.
He joined Hahnemann in 1946 to do thoracic-surgical research, and from 1961 till his retirement in 1977 he was the research director of its cardiovascular institute.
Dr. Satinsky liked to refer to himself on promotional materials as ‘the Renaissance Doctor’, as he was also a poet, a playwright (some of his plays were produced in London), a painter, a clarinetist, and a fencer; he was known at Hahnemann for practicing his swordsmanship in the halls and classrooms of the hospital. And at the age of 80, he earned a black belt in Aikido, and subsequently taught it.
From an experience removing a piece of shrapnel from a soldier’s heart during the Second World War decided he wanted to specialize in heart surgery. Although he had no religious training, during the War he once filled in as a rabbi on a troopship going to Europe when he learned it had chaplains, but no rabbi.
Although his name is associated with Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Denton Cooley – very famous heart surgeons, his name is not as well known to the general public.
Vic also had taught himself psychiatry and while at Hahnemann developed educational programs for young people; the first, for gifted high-school students, began in 1961. He later added programs for disadvantaged youth, for young people with emotional problems, and one for college dropouts.
On retiring, he set up the Satinsky Institute for Human Resource Development to continue this work, which he ran until his death at 84 years.
