DOCTOR, 88, STITCHING UP HISTORIC SITE; MEDICAL PIONEER GETS HELP.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

The Dutch-American doctor who saved countless lives by inventing an artificial kidney, lung and heart is spending the latter portion of his career trying to save the hospital where he made medical history more than 50 years ago.

To help Willem J. Kolff, 88, in his efforts to raise money and turn Kampen Hospital in the Netherlands into a medical museum, Glendale Adventist Medical Center surprised him Thursday with a $1,500 donation to the cause.

``Dr. Kolff is a living legend. We would like to see him realize his dream,'' said Dr. George Bridi, chief of staff at Glendale Adventist. Visiting Glendale, Kolff took a tour of the hospital Thursday, when the staff surprised him with the donation.

Hospital officials estimate it will cost $1 million to restore Kampen Hospital.

Kolff, who emigrated to the United States in 1950 and now lives outside Philadelphia, walked slowly down the halls before ending up in a conference room where everyone wanted to shake his hand and compliment him on a life of saving others.

In 1943, at Kampen Hospital, Kolff built the first artificial kidney from wooden slats, a sausage casing, a gear pump and a porcelain bathtub. Kolff was a Dutch national working in German-occupied Holland during World War II.

Two years later, in the same hospital, Kolff demonstrated that his artificial kidney machine could temporarily substitute for the human kidney.

Now Kampen Hospital is on the verge of extinction, Kolff said. Although there aren't any patients in it, Kolff said the elegant, antiquated hospital should not be torn down, as was suggested by a group of investors who want to build a nursing home on the site.

Apparently it would be cheaper to build a nursing home from scratch than to incorporate the old hospital with it, he said, shrugging.

Kolff's efforts thus far have saved the building from being bulldozed, but likely will sit empty and idle unless he raises funds to make it a museum.

``You cannot forget what's happened in that hospital,'' Kolff said. ``Most of my colleagues are dead. I want to preserve this building and machines as part of medical history.''

After the success of the artificial kidney machine in 1945, Kolff built four rotating drum kidney machines and shipped them to Western Europe, the United States and Eastern Europe.

Kolff left Holland to become a professor at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and there developed the first disposable kidney, which saved many American lives during Vietnam, said Dr. John De Palma, who studied Kolff's work. De Palma beamed like a child seeing Santa Claus when Kolff walked into the conference room.

From the Cleveland Clinic, Kolff moved to the University of Utah, where he developed a successful artificial heart.

``Dr. Kolff is my kind of physician - a doctor who followed his dreams to help mankind, a true scientist, a man who . . . invented, and then gave to humanity, the three artificial organs we take for granted today,'' De Palma said.

Anyone interested in donating to help save Kampen Hospital can send a check to the Willem J. Kolff Fund in care of John De Palma, 1560 East Chevy Chase Drive, Suite 435, Glendale, 91206.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: Willem Kolff

Doctor creating museum