by Jennifer Kowalewski

On Wednesday, Oct. 19, the college will remember two of its own on the one-year anniversary of their tragic death during the crash of Corporate Airlines Flight #5966. 

Bridget Wagner, D.O. (’94), assistant dean for the college’s Northeast Ohio Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE), and Kathleen Gebard, CORE administrator for the Southwest CORE, were en route to the “Humanism in Healthcare” conference at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM) of A. T. Still University of Health Sciences, sponsored by Arnold P. Gold Foundation, when the airliner in which they were passengers crashed on final approach in Kirksville, Mo.

OU-COM will hold a wreath laying ceremony at noon in front of Grosvenor Hall. Dean Jack Brose, D.O., will speak during the brief ceremony. All are invited.

“Both Kathy and Bridget were absolutely dedicated to our students,” said Brose. “Both acted as teachers, friends and, also, mothers to our students. They were sincerely loved by our students and our staff.

“Both were spectacular mothers who were absolutely dedicated to their families. Both were concerned about their fellow human beings and participated in many projects to help people who were less fortunate.”

KCOM will dedicate the day in honor of the 13 crash victims, while honoring the survivors, John Krogh, Ph.D., KCOM administrative regional supervisor for the Utah region, and his assistant, Wendy Bonham, KCOM coordinator for the Utah region.

The ceremony at Kirksville begins at 9 a.m., with a speech by Krogh, said Joe Vincent, office of university relations in Kirksville.

“Dr. Krogh will talk about how he survived, being thrown from the plane and crawling away from the wreckage with a broken hip,” Vincent said. “He has quite a story to tell. He also will talk about the day that was planned.”

With Krogh’s address, KCOM hopes to revive the meaning of the original conference, while moving forward with a seminar planned today, “Footprints,” through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The seminar will focus on care for the dying, bringing compassion and humanism for patients, whose conditions are beyond help by medical science, and their families. In the afternoon, medical students of KCOM, along with faculty, will complete community service tasks including delivering food with the Meals-on-Wheels program and visiting nursing homes.

“The idea is to show the human side of medicine,” Vincent said. “Only half of medicine is the technical part. The other half is the human side.”

OU-COM still feels the lost of Wagner and Gebard.

Wagner was a 1994 graduate of the college and joined the university in 2001. As a CORE assistant dean, she served as the academic officer for medical students in their third and fourth years. In addition, she also was the liaison for the CORE system and its affiliated hospitals and colleges of osteopathic medicine.

Gebard joined Ohio University in 1989 and as a CORE administrator in the Dayton area, she provided advising and guidance for medical students in their third and fourth years, monitored their progress and coordinated medical training opportunities.

The Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents will hold a day-long “Compassion Celebration” at Kirksville in remembrance of the victims and to honor the survivors. And KCOM plans to name one room of the to-be-constructed ITC Building in honor of those killed in the crash.

All of these events will help remember those who perished, while keeping their memory and mission alive.