also increased our relationship with the city ’ s board of health with the hard work of Wayne Tuckson , your new President-Elect . This influence has resulted in great success with the last two legislative cycles with this year the “ Medical Review Panels ” legislation passing . I want to thank Frank Burns and the whole Policy and Advocacy Team for their hard work as well as the hard work of your GLMS staff , Bert Guinn and the KMA .
If that were all , it would be an enormous amount to be proud of but the Society has also been hard at work serving you in other ways . We continue to offer educational sessions focusing on business aspects of medicine . Under Dr . Couch ’ s direction , we started a Physician Wellness Program for burned out physicians , which has been helpful for our members . We are also proud to be active in celebrating our medical students with the Career Chats / Specialty Speed Networking and White Coat Ceremony events . Lastly , I just want to thank all those who have served on a committee . Your time and insights are really appreciated .
As I said earlier , when thinking about a birthday you are celebrating the past and hopeful for the future . Well I am very hopeful , because we have a lot planned to continue making your society great . I mentioned the sale of the Old Medical School Building , and that sale required us to move to another building . Our new space offers many possibilities for future events including networking events . I hope you take some time today and explore GLMS ’ s new home .
We also realize that there is always room for improvement , and we do listen to your concerns and wish to make your lives easier . Therefore , I would like to inform you we are going to be working , under the leadership of Dr . Jeffrey Goldberg , to improve the CAPS process . I don ’ t want to give to many specifics but we really want this to be a first-class program of which we can all be proud . We also will start to work on improving the offerings from our Medical Society Professional Services ( MSPS ). At this point , I can only tell you to stay tuned .
I also mentioned the GLMS Foundation earlier . The Foundation worked with a team from Leadership Louisville over the last several months and plans on some new initiatives to better serve GLMS and the community at large . I think this is very exciting and will create many volunteer opportunities for our members and allow the Society to give even more to the Louisville community .
The leadership of your Society feels it is ready to propel itself like a rocket forward and meet the demands of the current healthcare atmosphere through our various new initiatives . To symbolize this excitement , hope and vision we have come up with a new logo for GLMS .
The new logo signifies the direction we envision for the Society and yet still captures our tradition . The new logo is a fleurde-lis with a snake wrapped around the center three times and composed of the colors red , blue and purple . Each element of the
EVENTS logo is a reminder of who we are , how our individual parts merge into a unified presence , and how we relate to our state and national societies .
The fleur-de-lis has been around since the Greek and Roman cultures but became a symbol of French royalty and symbolized perfection , light and life . The connection with the medical society which has had a fleur-de-lis since the society was known as the Jefferson County Medical Society , is with the city of Louisville . In 1953 , the Austrian Victor Hammer designed the seal of the city of Louisville which included three fleur-de-lis , 13 stars and the year 1778 all on a blue background . The fleur-de-lis harkened back to the origin of the city ’ s name , which was named Louisville to honor King Louis XVI of France . The 13 stars represented the 13 original colonies , and 1778 was the year the city of Louisville was founded . The seal changed in 2003 with the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County but still has the fleur-de-lis as its primary symbol . Interestingly , to answer a possible trivia question , that seal created by Victor Hammer was the fourth seal created for the city of Louisville . The other three included a seal with a steamboat in 1828 , one with a locomotive in 1861 , and one with both in 1910 . Now , however , the fleur-de-lis has become a recognizable symbol of the city of Louisville for any Louisvillian .
Therefore , the fleur-de-lis reminds us of our connection to our traditions but also to the community we serve . The three leaves of the fleur-de-lis and the three rings the snake forms signifies three aspects of the society ( GLMS , the GLMS Foundation and MSPS ) all working together for the community ’ s health and bound by a uniform purpose of making the lives of physicians and their patients better . The goal is to remind us that all elements of the Society should be closely aligned and working together to better serve the general community and our members . The colors also have a deep significance . The color blue ties us to our state society , the Kentucky Medical Association . The color red ties to the city of Louisville and to the noble ideals of leadership , passion and courage , and the blended colors forming a purplish hue tie us to our national society , the American Medical Association .
I really hope you enjoy the new logo and take it as a sign that the Society is hard at work for you , continuing the great things we have done and constantly trying to improve .
In closing , I am reminded of the words of the actor Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame , “ I ’ m looking forward to the future and feeling grateful for the past .”
Thanks , and remember this is your Society : so own it .
Dr . Zaring is an anatomic and clinical pathologist with Louisville Pathology Associates and practices at Jewish Hospital .
JULY 2017 9