Dr. James Dalton, November 7, 2022

Title

interviewee

Dr. James Dalton

interviewer

Cosette Veeder-Shave

Date

2022-11-07

Subject

Climate change

Community

Cooperstown, New York

Education

Environment

Healthcare

Humanism

Otsego 2000

Seattle, Washington

University of Washington

Description

Dr. James Dalton was born in Seattle, Washington on September 28th, 1953. He grew up in Washington, and attended Princeton University for his bachelor's degree. He then went to medical school at the University of Washington. Dr. Dalton first arrived in Cooperstown in 1979 to do his internal medicine residency. In 1983, he returned to Washington State, and practiced medicine in Seattle for five years, returning to Cooperstown in 1988. He and his wife, Deborah knew each other in college but began dating when they were both in Seattle after college. They were married in 1978. Their son, Tucker, was born in 1981, and their daughter Caitlin, was born in 1984. Dr. Dalton has worked for Bassett Medical Center for over thirty six years, and served as the director of Medical Education for nineteen of those years. He continues to teach the internal medicine residents, and is a member of the Bassett Healthcare Network Disparities committee.

Healthcare and the world of medical care have changed enormously since Dr. Dalton began his career, something that he discusses in his interview. Some of those changes include the shift towards transactional healthcare, the increase in sub specialization, and changing demographics of physicians. Dr. Dalton's narration moves from a discussion of his career in healthcare towards his involvement in the Cooperstown community. His recollections of Otsego 2000's involvement in environmental issues in Cooperstown reflect the arc of environmental concerns in the nation at large in many ways.

I interviewed Dr. Dalton at his home in Cooperstown, New York. Healthcare and the medical profession are at the forefront of many people's minds since our nation is still in the midst of a pandemic. However, the pandemic is not discussed in our conversation, as Dr. Dalton chooses to focus on larger, systemic issues in healthcare.

Editorially, I tried to reproduce a faithful transcription of our conversation. Both myself and Dr. Dalton take our time to think and tend to have false starts to our sentences, so I've removed these false starts and minor repetitions to create a clearer record. I've also split some long, run-on sentences into individual sentences, also for ease of reading. Additionally, after my pre-interview with Dr. Dalton, I decided to focus on his experience overall in healthcare and the Cooperstown area, and not specifically on Bassett hospital. This was purposeful.

Time Summary

Track 1, 4:30- Healthcare

Track 1, 14:24- Changes in Healthcare

Track 1, 24:20 - Rural Healthcare

Track 2, 10:33- Environment

Track 2, 20:48 - Cooperstown

Creator

Cosette Veeder-Shave

Publisher

Publisher Cooperstown Graduate Program, State University of New York at Oneonta Cooperstown Graduate Program, State University of New York at Oneonta

Rights

Cooperstown Graduate Program, State University of New York at Oneonta

Language

en-US

Item