From the
PRESIDENT
Robert A. Zaring, MD, MMM
GLMS President | [email protected]
ENTHUSIASM IN ENGAGEMENT
I
had the privilege to speak to the in-
coming residents at the University of
Louisville about the Greater Louisville
Medical Society (GLMS) at the end of
June. I had worked on my brief talk and
crafted what I wanted to convey hoping to
give them a nugget of wisdom. What I found
from the experience was that I gained a great
deal of hope for the future of medicine and
a much needed motivational charge.
To begin, it was great to see all the young
faces with that look of excitement and won-
der that only starting an adventure quite
enables. I noticed with their fidgeting that
they were nervous and understood the
gravity and significance of the moment.
The group was diverse, consisting of dif-
ferent ages and races and a definite mix of
women and men. They listened attentively
to Dr. John Roberts, who is in charge of
the residency programs at the University of
Louisville, and the other speakers: leaders
from the various local hospitals, heads of
programs to aid the residents, the President
of the Kentucky Medical Association, Dr.
Nancy Swikert, vendors and myself.
One aspect which was interesting about
the event was that a theme common to all
the speakers developed, and yet none of us
had worked together on our talks. During
the talks, Dr. Roberts noticed the consistent
beat of the various speakers’ messages and
pointed this out in his statements to the
residents. That theme was the importance
of engagement. The speakers had mentioned
over and over the need for residents to en-
gage themselves, not just in the day-to-day
work of a resident physician, but into the
milieu of a healing medical community. Dr.
Roberts emphasized this when he talked
about avoiding the superficial conveyor belt
of life and really diving in deep into the ex-
perience facing them. You could sense they
understood the call, and their enthusiasm
was palpable and infectious.
Hearing those pleas from the many speak-
ers to our newest doctors got me thinking.
For one, seeing and feeling the excitement
in their faces gave me a needed jolt. Like
a quick rush from my favorite caffeinated
beverage, I started to feel recharged and
more hopeful about the field of Medicine.
When you stare at hurdles all day long, day
after day, you can forget the reason you are
even jumping them, let alone that there is an
ultimate goal. The obstacle is all you see and,
the more you look at it, the higher it gets.
However, their excitement and optimism
made me hopeful. It also made me think
about the importance of physician engage-
ment in general. Yes, we need our youngest
physicians engaged. The only way we can
be a better medical community is having
their fresh ideas and enthusiasm. However,
we need engagement from physicians of all
ages into the medical community. Having
heard from various physicians these last
few months, I am amazed at the collective
wisdom we have in this community and
how much we can learn from each other.
I know you are now expecting me to ask
for extra amounts of your time by asking
you to participate more in GLMS. Well, I
would be remiss as President of the orga-
nization if I didn’t, so if you do have extra
time, please contact GLMS about one of our
committees or upcoming activities. Now
that that is out of the way, what I really want
to say is to just be engaged in some manner.
The engagement may simply be spending a
little time in the physician lounge talking to
a colleague, mentoring a student, or resi-
dent. Whatever the activity is, just make sure
to be engaged because you will be amazed
at how much you gain by your participation
and how much stronger a medical commu-
nity we have when you do.
Health care is hard, and we as a med-
ical field face enormous challenges and
differences of opinion. Sometimes those
challenges or differences can cause us to
withdraw. However, things can only be
improved when we are all engaged and re-
spectfully listening to each other. Everyone
brings something to the table and you can
never be quite sure what you are bringing
that may have a profound effect on someone
else. I am sure those new residents did not
attend that assembly thinking they were
going to reinvigorate me, but they did. We
all want things in health care to improve, but
the only chance we have to truly improve
our community is for us all to contribute.
In closing, I leave you with the words of
the physician and activist, Dr. Helene D.
Gayle, “Real, sustainable community change
requires the initiative and engagement of
community members.”
Dr. Zaring is an anatomic and clinical patholo-
gist with Louisville Pathology Associates and
practices at Jewish Hospital.
Editors Note: If you are interested in
becoming more involved in GLMS,
email [email protected]
OCTOBER 2017
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