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Cultivating Our Connections
American poet David Budbill once wrote:
Two hundred years ago Issa heard the morning birds
singing sutras to this suffering world.
I heard them too, this morning, which must mean,
since we will always have a suffering world,
we must also always have a song.
As we enter 2022, we are all still struggling with the ramifications of the global pandemic. I am certain all our personal lives continue to be impacted. Professionally, we have all lost patients, perhaps even colleagues, to this event – and many of us continue to struggle with being in harm’s way daily. In the wings of this pandemic, are the epidemics which never left us - the scourge of opiate addiction, the vexing problems of chronic disease management, among others. The landscape of health care continues to shift underneath us, with value-based repayment schema rising to the fore. Every day, however, we keep coming to work, and we keep practicing our craft. Amid such uncertainty and upheaval, let us remember who we are as osteopathic physicians and surgeons – I implore you all to remember your own song.
Ours is a profession born of the frontier. Our craft is imbued with that quintessential American profile of tenacity and grit. When I read Dr. Still’s original writings, the voice I hear is not melodic – it is a gruff, no-nonsense, and confident undulating tenor of a military drill sergeant. I often laugh to myself reading his words – I feel he would be one of those dinner guests at the table you simultaneously cannot be without and yet still feel exasperated by at times. Dr. Still’s legacy, however, is a cadre of physicians who can often see beyond what other health care professionals can; that whole-person perspective so invaluable to our work.
As we move into this New Year, my ask of you all is to remember our connections. I believe the pandemic’s biggest, long-term impact will be the disruption to our social and professional lives. Rekindle your connections – to your family, to your profession and colleagues, and most importantly, to yourselves. We at WOMA will work this year to help buttress and reaffirm our professional connections through our lauded CME offerings, our future gatherings, and our public policy advocacy. 2022 can be a year of fatigue after two years of a global pandemic, but it can also be a year of renewal and re-connection as we all strive to remember our song. I invite you to build an osteopathic “choir” with us this year. Stay tuned to our website and our NYCU newsletter, and do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Yours Osteopathically,
David M. Escobar, DO, MPH, FAAFP
President
Washington Osteopathic Medical Association
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