Thank You for Being You
By Jennifer Hauler, DO, system chief medical officer, Premier Health
There is a unique and unspoken bond among physicians. Much more than an acknowledgement of years of training and testing, it is a deep understanding of a lifestyle that one can only fully understand by having walked a day in the life of a doctor.
One of my favorite quotes is based on a Bible verse, Luke 12:48 – to whom much is given, much will be required. It is truly a privilege and an honor to be a physician. It requires intelligence, endurance, persistence, compassion, and grit. No one becomes a physician accidentally. It is an intentional choice that requires years of sacrifice. There is no other profession in which an individual can enter a room with a complete stranger, introduce themselves, and immediately earn the trust of the complete stranger to the extent that the individual will share the most intimate and personal details of their life, including their deepest fears. A doctor is never not a doctor – even if the doctor is on vacation, enjoying a day off, or standing on the sidelines of their child’s soccer game.
Doctors push themselves in ways that few others would understand. They push themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. Medicine requires long hours, interrupted sleep, and intense concentration. Patients often need emotional strength. Doctors provide this even on days when they are not strong. They counsel and provide comfort to a family on the grim prognosis of their family member while swallowing the reality that their own loved one is dying. They spend free time to keep current on the ever-changing world of medicine. They miss anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas pageants. Medicine can be incredibly isolating. Health care is a team sport, but it is the physician that is ultimately responsible.
Just as a parent constantly carries a sense of responsibility and worry for and about their child, even when the child is an adult living independently, so physicians carry responsibility for their patients. Medicine also provides great joy. It imparts a sense of accomplishment and reward that is unparalleled. Bringing a new life into the world or resuscitating a patient who will return to a full and productive life creates highs that carry physicians through the rough days. There is even a unique sense of calm and peace that comes from walking with a patient through their entire journey after receiving a terminal diagnosis.
Each year, Doctors’ Day comes around on March 30 to provide us with an opportunity to recognize, celebrate, and thank our physicians for the talent and heart that you bring to patients every day. From one physician to another, thank you for the honor of working for and with you. Interacting with and supporting you is the best part of my job! Premier Health is truly blessed with extraordinary physicians, and I believe that extraordinary physicians come from extraordinary humans. Happy Doctors’ Day!!
Back to the March 2019 issue of Premier Pulse
