REFLECTIONS: Roundup Time
by Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
When one lives up to the late nineties and still retains memories of the past, it is as though one looks through a bright kaleidoscope of changing colors! Nothing remains static, colors change places yet continue to entertain the eye.
When a physician is blessed with training and practicing in both a progressive modern country like the U. S. and a then-progressing post-WWII country in the tropics like the Philippines, one has an excellent, though limited, kaleidoscope of young physicians who practiced in both areas of the earth.
One often wonders if changing places to practice was a good decision or not. Was it worth the trouble? Did they have to be especially talented or a regular run of the mill variety? Of course they had to retrain, retake exams to be considered equal to their new peers. Were they then accepted as equals or treated as inferiors?
A roundup of one’ s physician relatives and friends follow. Did they fare well?
One entered the armed forces. Based in Japan, he eventually became the neurologist in charge of the troops in the Far East. His wife, once in charge of families of a lumber company, trained as a psychiatrist in charge of families of dependents of Navy men.
Wife’ s friend took on a government clinic in California and now plans to cut down on working hours with her patients.
An internist taught at a university and his wife opened an allergy clinic. A friend trained in OB-GYN, then went back to the Philippines to tend to pregnant mothers and their children. A couple became principal physicians to a hospital for severely mentally retarded children, caring for them into adulthood. A couple opened a family clinic in a town where there was none and provided community health.
A brief roundup of one’ s personal colleagues, friends and relatives shows the potential and flexibility of physicians, wherever they are, wherever they come from.
To make use of this kaleidoscope of talent seems such a worthy cause!
Would you agree? Dr. Bacani-Oropilla is a retired pediatrician and psychiatrist.
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