pIn 1927 in the field of health care an unusual event occurred.
Morris Aaron Cohen, M.D. founded the Boston Evening Clinic, an
unusual and never before conceived facility for the treatment of
the indigent and low-wage earners who could not afford to lose a
day's pay. It was an endeavor that achieved success against
overwhelming odds: the objections of the Massachusetts Medical
Society, major hospitals, banks, and businesses. Often denounced as
unethical or even called a "liar" by an outstanding
member of the Society who believed Morris Cohen was taking money
from the poor and placing it in his own pockets, the besieged man
never surrendered. None of the criticisms was justified and all
were proved false. Why? Because Dr. Morris Cohen, as his memoir
attests, persisted; because he believed there were many among us
who required the kind of care he believed in. Eventually, this
humane man who believed in the dignity of human beings, who
recognized the needs of people unable to pay for medical care
during the day, rose in stature with his clinic until eventual
recognition by Presidents of the United States and persons, both
medical and lay, within the United States and beyond. pbuCritical
Reviews/u:/bbr"Even though the concept and mission of the
Boston Evening Clinic was the first of its kind in the nation, and
a model that pre-dated and influenced the sweeping health care laws
that ultimately created Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Cohen's
vision was repeatedly thwarted by the myopic business and medical
leadership, who apparently failed to grasp the longer term social
value of improved health, cost savings, and job preservation that
resulted from the Boston Evening Clinic's model of unfettered,
timely and preventive care."br- Roseanna H. Means,
M.D.brPresident and Chief Medical Officer, Women of Means,
Inc.brInternal Medicine, Brigham & Women's
HospitalbrAssociate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical
School p"Healing After Dark is an inspiration for the next
generation of health care reformers. It is a reminder to the
current ones that the requirements of perseverance, hard work, with
little financial remuneration and movement to overcome the inertia
of status quo are practically a guarantee that you are on to
something of great importance."br- Margaret A.
Caudill-Slosberg, MD, PhD, MPH p"Dr. Cohen gives readers an
exciting insight into the founding and operation of a unique
medical facility that still serves a model for these times, as well
as an evocation of the life and culture of early twentieth-century
Boston."br- Bernard M. Hyatt, publisher emeritus of iThe
Jewish Advocate/i, Boston pbuAbout the Author/u:/bbrRichard Shain
Cohen of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is originally from Boston. He
retired from the University of Maine at Presque Isle after serving
as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of English. He
holds B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.brHe served as editor of the
journal iHusson Review/i and was principal participant in a
National Endowment for the Arts Grant for "Images of
Aroostook" that was exhibited throughout the State of
Maine.brHis own publications, in addition to this book include:
iThe Forgotten Longfellow: Man in the Shadows/i (2010), iOnly God
Can Make a Tree/i, poetry from himself and his brother, Alfred
Robert Cohen; and the novels iMonday: End of the Week, Be Still, My
Soul/i, and iPetal on a Black Bough/i. He also wrote chapters for
iAroostook: Land of Promise/i, academic reviews, other articles,
and - with the help of a Shell Grant - a monograph on Samuel
Richardson that can be found in major library holdings.brAside from
the present book, in progress is a fourth novel.
