NECROLOGY
Zairo Eira Garcia Vieira was born on May 19, 1920, in Santos (SP). In 1944, he graduated in Medicine from Universidade Federal Fluminense Medical School
Working in Rio de Janeiro and already interested in Anesthesiology, Zairo - as he liked to be called - joined a colleague to import an anesthesia machine from the U.S. When the unit arrived, they found that all operating instructions were written in English, a language that they did not master.
To overcome the difficulty, Zairo decided to study English and enrolled at the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos (IBEU). There, he became involved with activities that earned him the prize of a trip to the U.S. Skilled and with a privileged intelligence, Zairo made important contacts in that country. In 1948, he started residency in Anesthesiology with J. W. Stoelting, in Indiana, and returned to Brazil in 1951.
Very interested in the specialties associations, Zairo was always connected to the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology (Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia - SBA), created in 1948, being one of the architects of its model as a medical society.
Elected President of the SBA, he attended the first meeting of the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) in 1955, in Holland. In that event, Zairo was elected a member of the first Executive Committee of the WFSA, and was the first Brazilian to join this Committee.
As president of SBA, Zairo was the creator of the Title of Specialist in Anesthesiology (Título de Especialista em Anestesiologia - TEA) in 1955, today Superior Title in Anesthesiology (Título Superior em Anestesiologia - TSA). He was a member of the first board of examiners in 1967. Zairo was the founder of the Latin American Confederation of the Societies of Anesthesia (CLASA), in 1958, and elected the first Secretary-General of this Confederation. In 1959, he was reelected.
During the 3rd World Congress of Anesthesiology in Brazil, in 1964, Zairo received an invitation from Dr. Vincent Collins to join his Service of Anesthesiology at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, USA. Returning to that country, Zairo actively participated in the Service with Vincent Collins and Alan P. Winnie and even collaborated in the production of the classic book Principles of Anesthesiology, by Collins.
In 1966, Zairo returned to Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, enthusiastic about the teaching model proposed for the Medical College to be implemented at the University of Brasilia (UnB), he accepted the invitation to be part of the Board of Professors chosen for this challenge. Thus, began one of the most brilliant careers in education within the Brazilian medicine.
Making good use of the existing facilities, Professor Zairo exquisitely assembled a service of Anesthesiology in which nothing was missing, being very sophisticated at the time. There was even an Astrup, apparatus for the study of acidbase balance. There were all agents in clinical use, including cyclopropane. Besides the Anesthesiology service, Zairo set up an ICU with four beds to work under the supervision and control of Anesthesiologists. At that time, there was no ICU in the Federal District.
The teaching hospital of the Medical College of UnB was in the satellite-town of Sobradinho, 30 km from Brasilia. This hospital, called Integrated Health Unit of Sobradinho (Unidade Integrada de Saúde de Sobradinho - UISS), was devoted mainly to community medicine. All professors including Zairo, along with students, acted in physician-patient consultation at the beginning of hospital activities to all kinds of diseases, even in the emergency room.
Interested in creating a school of Anesthesiology, Zairo began to implement and organize the Center for Teaching and Training (Centro de Ensino e Treinamento - CET) of the SBA.
On January 8, 1968, I introduced myself to Zairo to start residency in Anesthesiology and thus I acquired the title that gives me great honor - the first resident of Zairo in Brazil.
Discipline was Spartan. The activities began with a meeting over breakfast at 7AM to discuss with Zairo the preanesthetic visits made the night before. The meetings to discuss clinical cases and international literature articles were on Saturdays from 8:30AM to 12PM. For me and my fellow resident João Batista Araujo it was a privilege to have at our disposal Professors like Zairo and Renato Saraiva, his assistant, at full time and exclusively dedicated.
The activities in Brasilia did not keep Zairo away from the SBA. Throughout his life, his participation was active and very important in the organization and functioning of our society.
Besides the presidency of the SBA, Zairo rendered important services as Editor of the Boletim Anestesia (1950-1954), First Secretary of the SBA (1951-1953), Editor-in-Chief of the Revista Brasileira de Anestesiologia (1958-1964), member of the International Affairs Commission (1973-1977), and a member and Chairman of the Education and Training Commission and the Title of Specialist Commission (19691974). In these committees, he implanted professionalism in conducting works that to this day are very important pieces for SBA performance.
In 1967, Zairo chaired the Society of Anesthesiology of the Federal District (SADIF), and cared for its formalization as regional of SBA and department of the Medical Association of Brasilia. He created in 1968 the preparatory course for TEA that became, by on his own initiative, an university extension course - Scientific Foundations of Anesthesiology. This course organized and sponsored since the beginning by SADIF and UnB projected the anesthesia of the Federal District in Brazil. It represents one of the ways Zairo helped improve the practice of anesthesia in the Federal District. Hundreds of anesthesiologists have attended this course in our country.
In 1968, Zairo organized and chaired the 15th Brazilian Congress of Anesthesiology in Brasilia. Working full time and exclusively committed, he became one of the most important Professors of UnB.
Also in 1968, he was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in Great Britain.
Among the various positions he held at UnB, Director of the Universitary Hospital and of the Medical College stands out.
With a large number of participations in scientific events, Zairo became respected and recognized nationally and internationally. Nevertheless, he was always a simple man, devoted to his family and to Anesthesiology. He enjoyed a chat with friends over a draft of beer, and loved to play poker as well as horseracing.
In his first season in the United States (1948-1951), Zairo met Elizabeth Jean and married her. Together, they raised four children: Terry, Tony, Timy, and Tamy. The three boys live in the United States and Tamy in Brazil, in Ribeirão Preto (SP).
Despite the rigid discipline in which he lived, Zairo had a big heart and great consideration for his students.
Zairo was selective of his friendships. However, he had many great friends in Brazil and abroad. I was fortunate to enjoy his friendship, as well as his wife Jean. He always made great efforts to transmit firsthand to his assistants and residents, whom he always encouraged to progress into the university life, everything new that he learned on his trips.
When I was preparing my doctoral thesis, Zairo, who was in the United States, monthly sent to me all new papers that was published on the subject of the thesis.
Once, discussing teacher training, I heard Zairo saying: "Being a teacher is to be a mirror".
In late 1987, Zairo received authorization from the UnB to teach at University of Illinois College of Medicine, USA, up to the end of 1988.
In 1990, at the age of 70, Zairo and several other pioneers teachers at UnB were compulsorily retired. Disappointed because he felt that he was still in good working condition, and he really was, Zairo left for the United States, where he initially worked at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
After some time, invited by Alan P. Winnie, who was the head of anesthesia at Cook County Hospital, he returned to his old hospital where he became responsible for teaching Anesthesiology, with a very large number of medical residents.
Every time I visited him in these two hospitals, I noticed that the fellow anesthesiologists treated him with great respect and consideration. On these occasions, I was always very welcome by Winnie and the other colleagues. My important credential was to be a friend and first resident of "Dr. Vieira".
Several Brazilian residents who wanted to know Zairo were referred by us to Chicago, and they always came back delighted with the reception and attention dispensed by Zairo.
In 2002, in agreement with Winnie, Zairo retired at age of 82. After retirement, he returned to Brazil a few times to visit friends and relatives and always went to Brasilia, where he also attended at least one of our scientific meetings in the Center of Anesthesiology of the UnB.
In 2005, I took him to the Brasilia airport to embark for the United States. On the way to the airport, Zairo told me he would not accept more invitations to speak at events because he was noticing some neurologic deficit related to his balance. As I watched him walking to the gate, it occurred to me that this could be his last visit to Brazil-and it was. After this trip, news reached us by telephone, but always progressively discouraging.
On January 10, 2013, in Round Lake, Illinois, Professor Zairo Eira Garcia Vieira died.
Dear Master:
As a Professor, you were one of the great mirrors of the Brazilian Medicine. The national and international Anesthesiology is poorer and indebted to you.
As a human being, you were unique. While at work, you gave more than you received. If it is true that a higher Being projects and creates us, after creating you this Being burned the project. There is not another Zairo.
Dear friend, the members of the "Zairo Vieira School of Anesthesiology" scattered throughout Brazil are mourning your loss. We live with this feeling so unwavering in the last four years. Now, even with all the fruits of your fruitful existence and our deep friendship - it is finished. I lost the friend of every hour.
Rest in peace great Master!
Dr. Edno Magalhães
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
23 Apr 2013 -
Date of issue
Apr 2013
