Dr Pfaltzgraff, who spent many years of his life assisting people affected by leprosy, including through work for ILEP Member American Leprosy Missions, died on 1^st March 2010 at his home in Pennsylvania, USA.

Dr Pfaltzgraff went to North York High School, Elizabethtown College and Temple Medical School. He served his internship at Lancaster General Hospital, before serving with the Church of the Brethren Mission in north eastern Nigeria at Garkida Hospital between 1944 and 1982. For the last fifteen years of that period he was the superintendent. He was the only doctor and ran the hospital with the help of local staff.

From 1954 he began specialising in leprosy. He had taught himself everything that was needed to care for those with leprosy. He had a quiet and reassuring manner with his patients. He taught them how to look after their own hands and feet. He made the rounds of the wards every morning, dealt with administration, met with his staff and carried out rehabilitative surgery for those who needed it. “Every patient was a whole person for whom there was a place in life”, according to Professor Anthony Bryceson, who met Dr Pfaltzgraff during a two-week stay at Garkida with 30 medical students who went there to learn about leprosy.

Dr Pfaltzgraff was a gifted teacher. Dr Paul Saunderson, Medical Director of ALM and member of ILEP Technical Commission, recalls the time when Dr Pfaltzgraff was attending a course at the All Africa Leprosy Tuberculosis and Rehabilitation Training Centre (ALERT) in Addis Ababa as a participant and stood in for a visiting lecturer, who was unable to attend, and covered the topic extensively. Conversely he was able to describe simply and clearly the basics of leprosy to those who did not know anything about it.

After retiring, from 1982 until 1991, Dr Pfaltzgraff contributed to the work of American Leprosy Missions in many ways, both to its work at home and visits to projects overseas. He could also spend time enjoying his hobbies, such as gardening and woodworking.

During his life he wrote many articles about leprosy for publication in scientific journals. Together with Dr Anthony Bryceson he wrote Leprosy, which is in its third edition today. The first edition, Leprosy for Students of Medicine, was published in 1973.

In 1997 Dr Pfaltzgraff received the Damien-Dutton Award in recognition of his significant contribution to leprosy work.   

Categories: News and Notes, Nigeria