ADVOCATING FOR EACH OTHER & BUILDING COMMUNITY
Bluegrass Bonds : Finding Home in Louisville
Med-Peds Residents at a camping-themed orientation .
“
Were
10 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE you ever in the Greek system in college ?”
“ No ? Then buckle up for a lengthy explanation .”
This is the start of many conversations I ’ ve had with my non-medical family trying to explain The Match . There is probably a quicker and easier TikTok video that I could share now . It boggles their minds that we don ’ t get a chance to have a definite say in which city we will be living and working for the next many years . It is one of the most crucial decisions I ’ ve made and the community I found in residency would shape my next decade personally and professionally .
Being med-peds means having a foot in two worlds but also cultivating a close group that can understand the crazy journey of weaving in and out of the madness . You become uniquely attuned to group dynamics as you switch back and forth so I ’ ve
by LAURA BISHOP , MD , FACP , FAAP
had the benefit of seeing attempts to foster community both fail and thrive . Here are a few of the lessons I ’ ve learned .
Find your people
In high school , I oscillated among all of the cafeteria table groups leading to breadth but not depth in my relationships . This pattern continued throughout my training until residency when I finally found my people . When driving to my med-peds residency graduation , my husband accurately noted that I was likely the only person who would be sad to be finished with residency . So when the opportunity arose to work in residency leadership and be part of building community for others , I didn ’ t hesitate .
Cling to your people despite the storm of life ’ s demands
Moving to a new place can mean a chasm between you and your friends / family - a busy rotation may mean gaping distance even between those in the same household . I ’ ve stolen a system for scheduled check-ins from my husband . We have repeating calendar events for our friends to remind us to say hi or plan a meet-up . When I meet with new interns in the fall , a lot of our discussion