By Diem Pham, Founding Partner, ROAMcare
June is quickly passing and we are nearing the halfway point of the year. Half of the day are used up and that means half of the weekends and holiday are behind us also. It won’t be long until the vegetables planted in gardens in countless backyards will begin to ripen, their bounty enjoyed at countless tables in kitchens, on picnics, or at backyard barbecues. It is a celebration of the growth from seed to plant to harvest to dinner. The first half of the year is gone and the sun's rise to its highest point, stretching the days to their longest, is complete. The sun is starting its downward arc the sky and it begins the slow march to its lowest point, passing through autumn to winter when it will be ready to rise again. It is a transition that nature hosts for us every year as it marks the seasons as occasions to savor and celebrate.
July is an also noteworthy month the medical world. Traditionally July 1 is the transition date of physician residencies in teaching hospitals. Pharmacy residencies that have not yet begun will commence in the next weeks. Hospitals, clinics, labs, and health centers will all mark the occasion in their own way, graduating the most senior residents, repositioning those moving through the program years, and welcoming a new class of recent graduates, eager and at the same time apprehensive.
This transition played out in clinical arenas across the country is a celebration of the growth of the medical community. Everybody, not just the residents and their mentors, but every person in every facility who interacts with these student clinicians is a participant in their education. Together we gather with these new professionals, proudly welcoming them into our team to care for our patients in the pursuit of health and wellbeing not unlike how we learned from those who came before us, and how they learned from those who came earlier still.
By sharing our talents, experiences, and a bit of ourselves, we nurture the growth of each person we meet, fostering cooperation and collaboration, building strength into clinical teams, and perhaps sowing seeds of friendships. For that is how a profession grows and nurtures itself. Through generations we teach and learn. We learn what it means to be a professional, to be part of a team, to set the standards to care about how we provide care to those we do not know, how we provide care to everybody who needs.
July is also the time we participate in yet another annual celebration. It is the month we celebrate our country’s independence, our national birthday. This remarkable holiday sets aside our differences to celebrate our commonalities. It gathers us all as one people, one nation, indivisible to proudly celebrate our values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The freedom that we enjoy today is a gift from the generations who came before us, of their bravery and sacrifices, their willingness to work as a team in pursuit of these principles for those they did not know. The duty is now ours to defend our Declaration for future generations.
May we be willing to continue to honor and be worthy of the gifts bestowed upon us – gifts of nature, gifts of our profession, and gifts of our founders. May we welcome each day with joy and gratitude. May we be willing to teach those who come after us how to share what they learn with those who come after them, to set the standards for how to care, and to care for and about everybody - with those we share our days, with those we share our professionals, with those we share our heritage, and yes, even with those we do not know.