Founding member of Northwest Community Hospital dies
A founding member of Northwest Community Hospital, who later oversaw the communitywide polio immunization in Arlington Heights, has died.
Dr. John Detweiler passed away on Christmas Day. The 35-year Arlington Heights resident and internal medicine specialist, who had retired to Florida, was 85.
His service to the Northwest suburbs goes back to the late 1950s, when he supported the construction of a community hospital to serve the medical needs of the growing suburban region.
Dr. Detweiler was one of four physicians to serve on the hospital's first design review committee, and he later participated in expansion reviews.
One of his colleagues, Dr. Ralph Lidge, recalls they influenced the architects to position a blood bank, laboratories and surgical suite adjacent to the emergency room in the event of a major disaster.
Dr. Detweiler went on to serve as chief of staff and president of the medical staff at Northwest Community, but he also shared his leadership and medical expertise with his community.
Arlington Heights officials have oaths signed by Dr. Detweiler that he served on its board of health from 1965 to 1986, but they suspect his service started before that, back to 1962, when more than 11,000 residents were immunized for polio.
Dr. Detweiler's partner in private practice, Dr. William Kristy, would follow his colleague's lead and join the board of health in the late 1980s, becoming a strong voice throughout the state in advocating for a ban on smoking in all public places.
Medical colleagues remembered Dr. Detweiler as a scholarly physician, who quietly read the New England Journal of Medicine every morning before seeing patients, but who also kept a blackboard in his examining rooms, in order to educate patients.
"John believed in teaching his patients as much as treating them," says his former colleague, Dr. John McGillen, now medical director at Northwest Community Hospital. "He was very old school and very thorough; we were all seeing patients in 10 to 15 minute visits, John would spend a half-hour. And his patients loved him for that."
Another colleague, Dr. Felix Krock, remembers his fellow internist as a "real presence" among the medical community.
"He never rushed, but backed his treatment on evidenced-based and sound scientific research," Krock said. "He was well articulated and well reasoned, with a strong will and strong opinions, but with a wry sense of humor.
"I always said he was a Rolls-Royce in a parking lot filled with Volkswagens," Krock added.
Dr. Detweiler is survived by his wife of 63 years, Elaine, as well as his daughters Judith Kroll, Joan Detweiler and Jeanne (Mickey) Glenn; four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Services were held in Florida, but a memorial service is planned for the future in Arlington Heights.