PAPS Artifacts

Artifact – a simple object produced by human workmanship

• The Presidential Badge
• The Past Presidential Badge
• The Flag
• The Coe Medal
• The Gavel
• The Rooster

The Presidential Badge

This badge was presented by the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons to their colleagues in the Pacific in 1972.  It is handed over to the incoming President each year at the Annual Meeting, usually in a presentation at the Annual Banquet.

The Past Presidential Badge

Douglas Cohen suggested to the Board of Directors that it would be appropriate for Past Presidents to wear a badge identifying them at Annual Scientific Meetings and included the concept of a brooch for spouses of Past Presidents. Having approval of the Board, he selected a design for the badges, copied from the PAPS flag, which had been designed by Peter Jones.  Armor Metal Makers in Sydney produced the badges. Douglas Cohen then presented the first badges in Mexico in 1979 when he assumed the role of President. An additional supply of badges was obtained for the Secretary in 1984 when Durham Smith was President.

The Flag

Foundation Member Peter Jones designed the PAPS flag in collaboration with Miss Vivienne James, Medical Artist at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.  It was made by Evan Evans Flags of 680 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, and flew for the first time at the 3^rd Annual Meeting of PAPS in Melbourne in 1970. Each year the flag adorns the meeting site and moves around the Pacific Ocean with successive Local Organizing Committees.

The Coe Medal 

The Coe Medal was initially conceived to honor the memory of Herbert E. Coe, MD.  Based in Seattle, he was a founding father of pediatric surgery on the Pacific shore of the United States.  It is the highest honor presented by PAPS, and is awarded to someone who has practiced on the Pacific Rim and who has made outstanding contributions to Pediatric Surgery.

In 1984, John Stevenson was placed in charge of plans to develop a Medal of Honor bearing the likeness of Herbert Coe, with $1,800 being allocated for the first fifty medals.  Dr. Stevenson also convened a Committee of Alexander Bill, Douglas Cohen, Morio Kasai and Murray Kilman to establish criteria for the awarding of the medal.  It was decided in 1985 that the first medal, cast in pewter with antique gold finish, would be presented to Mrs. Coe.  In 1986, the Board of Directors approved the following guidelines for selection of future recipients: 

1. The recipients would be recognized as having made outstanding contributions to pediatric surgery.
2. Contributions should be considered in any related field of pediatric surgery, any of the pediatric surgical specialties, pediatric surgical research, or anything that is considered to have raised the status of pediatric surgery. Service to PAPS per se, however meritorious, should not be considered an appropriate contribution unless the nominee was considered to have contributed in some additional appropriate way.
3. Except in most special circumstances, the medal would be awarded to those individuals who are working or have worked in the area covered by PAPS.
4. In order to enhance the value of the award, not more than one medal should be given in any one year. It should also not be necessary to make the award every year.  A candidate for the award could be nominated by any PAPS member in good standing.
5. The nomination should be forwarded to the Secretary and should include enough information for members of the Board to formally review and, if appropriate, second the nomination. The final selection of the recipient for the Coe Medal will be made by vote of the Board of Directors.
6. The selection should be made 4 months in advance of the Annual Meeting to allow the recipient, if possible, to plan to attend that meeting to receive the medal.

The addition of two more guidelines followed:

7. Although no limitation is placed on the nomination of any candidate, special consideration would be given to nominees who are or have been working in the Pacific Basin or whose work is seen as having particular relevance for pediatric surgeons working in the area.
8. A list of previous recipients will be sent out each time the selection committee guidelines are promulgated to avoid the problem of possibly recommending someone who is already a recipient.

In 1987, the Board of Directors voted to make an exception to the rule of awarding a single medal in one year and awarded medals to both Alexander Bill and Morio Kasai to mark the 20^th Anniversary of PAPS in 1998 in Seattle, the home of Dr. Coe.

Previous Coe Medal Recipients

The Gavel

In May 1971, John Stevenson presented a gavel to PAPS.  The head of the gavel was fashioned from hawthorn wood, which flowers in May in the Northern hemisphere.  May 1967 was the birthday of our Association.  The handle was made from holly, a holly tree used on special occasions in ancient times to represent goodness and purity. It is significant that the wood was obtained from trees felled by Herbert Coe in the year before his death and stored in his basement for future woodworking. The trees had originally been brought by Dr. Coe’s parents from England and planted when they settled in Seattle in 1888.  The timber was later obtained from his widow.  It is fitting that the Association has a gavel used at Annual Meetings made from wood belonging to one of our esteemed honorary members who was instrumental in beginning the specialty of Pediatric Surgery.

The Rooster

In September 2022 at the Annual Meeting in Quito, Local Organizing Committee Chair Paul Astudillo presented a Rooster, an Ecuadorian symbol of the "Chief of the Village," to President David Tuggle.  This Rooster is passed on to each successive president at the Annual Meeting.