Cibola Medical Foundation Nursing Endowment

Dr. Phil Kamps shares his passion for medicine with students from the UNM School of Medicine as they visit Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services.

Students in the UNM-Gallup branch campus nursing program will soon benefit from scholarships endowed by the Cibola Medical Foundation. Dr. Phillip Kamps, president of the Cibola Medical Foundation, recently presented UNM-Gallup with a check in the amount of $100,000 to establish an endowment that will continue in perpetuity to defray the costs of tuition, books, fees, and all other educational expenses required for graduation from the nursing program.

The Cibola Medical Foundation Nursing Scholarship Fund was established as a means of recognizing and supporting students who come through the UNM-Gallup nursing program and stay within the community to serve patients of the area. The impetus for the donation was the passing of Gallup resident Virginia Nuanez, who graduated from the UNM-Gallup program and worked as a registered nurse in the obstetrics department for over 20 years at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital.

During a recent interview, Dr. Kamps noted, “While in her forties, Virginia took advantage of the UNM-Gallup branch to enter her second career after her first career of raising her family. If the UNM-Gallup program hadn’t been here, she probably never would have received that education.”

The endowment was funded to help others, like Mrs. Nuanez, who want to receive their nursing degree and stay in the community. “The nursing program is one of the best things Gallup has,” continued Dr. Kamps. “This program is extremely valuable to our community.”

Dr. Kamps explained that in 1972, the Cibola Medical Foundation became the administrative arm of the private medical group Christian Medical Associates. Its founding members were Dr. Phil Kamps, Dr. Richard Stam, Dr. Al Diddams, and Dr. Jack Kamps. In 1995, the physicians rejoined the hospital system and the work of the Foundation temporarily ceased. After the board of directors realized there were still some resources remaining, they extended their philanthropic efforts to supporting local hospital and missionary activities. Dr. Kamps would know, better than most, the medical situation in the greater Gallup area as he has spent almost his entire life immersed in the culture and history of the area. Delivered at the old Rehoboth Mission Hospital by Dr. John McCormick, Kamps was raised on the Rehoboth campus east of Gallup, where he was a familiar social visitor to the hospital. “I knew all the doctors and nurses. I used to go in and beg for throat lozenges from the nurses because I thought they were candy.” In addition to his frequent interactions with hospital staff, Kamps was greatly influenced by Dr. Richard Pousma, physician and superintendent of the Rehoboth Mission Hospital. “Dr. Pousma was a great example to me. Once, during the quieter summer months on campus, Dr. Pousma told me he was going out to the Boy Scout camp and asked if I wanted to go with him. I don’t even think I told my mother where I was going.” “Dr. Pousma was a big fellow with a great voice,” Kamps continued, “He was a seminary-trained missionary as well as a physician. In the late 1920s, Dr. Pousma and my parents travelled to China. Due to great political unrest at the time, they quickly returned to Rehoboth where my father (Reverend Jacob R. Kamps) was a minister and referred to as ‘Camp Pastor’.” Dr. Richard Pousma accepted a temporary

assignment in Rehoboth in 1927 and was very influential in the growth and expansion of health care services in the Gallup area. For an additional historical perspective on Dr. Pousma, the Kamps family and the development of the Rehoboth Mission Hospital, refer to the Calvin College Origins publication (2003) at the following website: https://www.calvin.edu/hh/ origins/Spring03.pdf.

Kamps pointed out that the old Rehoboth Mission Hospital is not the medical building that is currently standing on VandenBosch Parkway. “The old hospital is where the post office is now. That area used to be called ‘Pill Hill’ because it was where most of the hospital personnel lived.”

Except for spending the 4th grade in Michigan, Kamps grew up on the Rehoboth campus. He explained that they had three teachers who taught everything and one of those teachers was his brother Roland Kamps. “My brother Roland was a teacher and a coach. He taught us history, P.E., math, biology, and physics.”

Kamps recounted, “Roland was also the basketball coach and I played on his team. Once we played Grants when I was in the 8th grade and the radio announcer said we were father and son, but we were actually brothers.”

Kamps older brother Jack shared college catalogs with his younger brother who thought pre-med sounded like an interesting field. “I knew little about business, and in our family, you were either a teacher, a preacher, or a doctor. I didn’t want to be a teacher or a preacher.”

He attended Calvin College in Michigan for undergraduate studies where, by his own admission, “I was not a sterling student. I failed organic chemistry – not just the class but I got an F on every test including the final exam.”

Knowing that organic chemistry was required for medical school admission, Kamps ended up retaking the class during the summer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The ten-week course covered the two semesters of organic chemistry he needed. “The first five weeks were a review of what I had already taken, but the second five weeks I really had to study hard. I got A’s in both sessions.”

At the time Kamps graduated from Calvin College; The University of New Mexico did not yet have a medical school, so he had to look outof-state for options. He pursued opportunities in Utah, Texas, Colorado, and Michigan. He recalls the all-night bus trip he took to Denver to meet with two members of the University of Colorado Medical Center interview committee. One member, Dr. Reginald Fitz, left a lasting impression. “He looked at my transcript and told me I’d never make a doctor.”

His brother Jack was already a senior at the Baylor School of Medicine and was, in fact, the one who called to tell his brother Phil that he had been admitted to Baylor.

After medical school graduation in 1965, Kamps interned at the University of New Mexico Medical School which accepted its first class in 1964. His first rotation at UNM was in internal medicine under the watchful eye of the founding dean of the medical school who was none other than Dr. Reginald Fitz.

While in residency at UNM, Kamps gave two years of military service in Vietnam. At the time, many physicians, who had been deferred from the draft while in medical school, were now receiving induction notices. By the time Kamps received his induction notice, he had just started an intense pediatrics residency. “After the first few weeks of spending 36 hours at the hospital and only 12 hours off, I thought the military had to be better.”

With a solid six weeks of pediatric training under his belt, Kamps was assigned as a pediatrician and spent time visiting the local orphanages tending to the local Vietnamese children. He also spent time in the 1st infantry as a battalion surgeon.

After returning to the United States, Kamp spent two years at Rehoboth Christian Hospital as a family medical doctor. “I was working 100 hours a week when my wife submitted an application for me to the obstetrics residency at UNM.”

“At the time,” he continued, “there was not an obstetrician in Gallup. When women needed to be transferred to Albuquerque for OB care, Rollie Mortuary would transport them in a hearse. It was more comfortable than an ambulance.”

Upon completion of the obstetrics residency, Kamps returned to Gallup and practiced from 1973 to 2018. He estimates he has delivered over 7,000 babies, many of whom he still sees in the community. Upon his retirement, Rehoboth McKinley Health Care Services dedicated the Phillip Kamps, M.D. Women’s Health and Birthing Center on the second floor of the hospital to him. Dr. Kamps is now enjoying retirement with his wife, Betty, with whom he raised four children.

Despite his absence from a current medical practice, Dr. Kamps is helping to ensure the future of medical services in the community through the Cibola Medical Foundation scholarships. UNM-Gallup nursing students, area patients, and community members have many reasons to be grateful for such generosity and for the lasting legacy left within the local medical field.

For more information contact:

Marilee Petranovich (505) 863-7770 mpetrano@unm.edu