Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, November 19, 2021
|
|
In This Special Gratitude Issue: |
|
Director's Corner
Perspective/ Opinion
Take 3
Kern Letters of Gratitude
Poetry Corner
|
|
Your Turn
Announcements & Resource
- Submit your ideas for a name for the new School of Medicine curriculum
-
Submit work to Auscult
- Call for Manuscripts for May 2023 AMA Journal of Ethics on IPE and Innovation
- Kern Grand Rounds: 414 LIFE: An Innovative Public Health Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Gun Violence in Milwaukee
- Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club
|
|
Director's Corner
Grateful for a Rare, But Powerful, Apology
By Adina Kalet, MD, MPH
This week Dr. Kalet shares how a simple, sincere, and humble apology can restore dignity and inspire deep and abiding trust and respect for a leader and the institutions he represents. With his permission, she shares her experience …
In September, during a large meeting of institutional leaders, my boss was leading an important, complex, decision-making conversation. When he asked for questions, I made the mistake of speaking up, only to be quickly and firmly dismissed. It felt as though he interpreted my question as being more “clueless” than it was and, in public and in front of many colleagues, he shut me down hard, leaving me silenced and feeling ashamed. I forgave him almost instantly although, truth be told, his words stung. I worked to shake it off and stay in the conversation, not wanting to stew on such a minor offense.
|
|
Perspective
You Matter and Here's Why: How COVID-19 Built Human Connection
By Chase LaRue
Medical student Chase LaRue shares his efforts to build connections and normalcy amidst the COVID pandemic with a creative social media project…
The spring of 2020 means something different to everyone. Through the eyes of healthcare providers, students, families, business owners, and more the experience is both unique and shared at the same time. To me, I didn’t realize it meant an immediate separation from the new community of peers and mentors that I had developed over the prior eight months. I don’t remember the exact moment I felt a sickening ache—that emotional pain that hurts deeper than bruises and broken bones—but I remember my last “normal” moment at the Medical College.
|
|
Three Questions for Cathy Jacobson
Gratitude Reflections
.
Cathy Jacobson, President and CEO of Froedtert Health, shares perspectives on gratitude amidst the evolving pandemic and character strengths we will need to draw on in 2022...
Ms. Jacobson answers the following questions:
- Please share something you are especially grateful for during this phase of the pandemic.
- What has being a leader during COVID-19 taught you?
- What character trait do you view as most important in our FH workforce moving forward?
|
|
Three Questions for Michael Stadler
Gratitude Reflections
.
Dr. Michael Stadler, Chief Medical officer for Froedtert Hospital, shares his perspective on what he has learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and challenges all of us to keep our integrity during the dynamic organizational changes that may be yet to come…
Dr. Stadler answers the following questions:
- Please share something you are especially grateful for during this phase of the pandemic.
- What has being a leader during COVID-19 taught you?
- What character trait do you view as most important in our FH workforce moving forward?
|
|
Dear Froedtert Hospital Perioperative Care Teams in Preop (PAR), Operating Rooms, Extended Recovery Unit (ERU), and Recovery Room (PACU),
The operating room is a mysterious, mythical place to those who see it only while laying on their backs on a gurney or sitting on a couch watching television. For those of us fortunate enough to work there, it is a challenging environment, full of technology, shifting plans, split-second life-and-death decisions, cranky personalities, and day-to-day workplace intrigue. In short, it is wonderful.
As I step back from my surgical career after four decades working in the Froedtert ORs, first as a resident and then as an attending, I am struck by how much of what I accomplished was only possible because of the compassionate, quality, and above-and-beyond work of the amazing women and men with whom I had the privilege to spend my days. Surgeons and anesthesiologists get a lot of the attention and credit, but it is the nurses, OR technicians, CRNAs, anesthesia techs, biomedical engineers, housekeepers, transporters, pharmacists, anesthesia assistants, staff, and perioperative care leaders that make the magic happen. I am eternally grateful to each of these wonderful and dedicated people. It made coming to work a delight.
Thanks for putting up with the delays, the egos, the unhappy people, the pointless conflicts, the staff shortages, the days when schedules imploded, and the inevitable emergencies. Thanks for your honesty and your friendship. Thanks for being the best. Thanks for allowing me inside of your world.
Gratefully,
Bruce Campbell, MD, FACS
|
|
Dear Lisa Dodson,
I am grateful for your partnership in the work of transforming the education of physicians.
When I arrived at MCW in September of 2019, a transplant from NYC with only a few friends in Milwaukee and a big job to do you immediately invited me to visit the MCW Central Wisconsin Regional campus in Wausau.
Tavinder Ark and I drove north in my blue Mini, our first road trip! We learned so much about your work and this unique unit of our institution and of the needs of our state. This brief visit was so important because I got to know Drs. Prunuske (Amy and Jacob), Fritz and Long and sat with your students and toured the campus!
Thanks so much for reaching out, actively welcoming me, generously partnering with the Kern Institute and for your ongoing collegiality and friendship. Oh, and also for introducing me to wines from the Pacific Northwest! I have learned a great deal about hospitality and welcoming new members of our community. I will pay this forward.
Adina Kalet, MD, MPH
|
|
Dear JoAnn Lomax,
As Thanksgiving approaches, I am taking a moment to reach out and THANK YOU for all you do for our staff, patients and families at FMLH.
Not just this year, but every year, I am so grateful for your advocacy, endless smile, calm under fire, and tremendous dedication to your work in Patient Relations. There are countless times in my many years of practice here, when you have come into challenging situations, particularly for families facing catastrophic loss, and brought such important perspective, support and connection to grieving families. Your support makes such a difference for all of us in our work.
Knowing you, and working together, has been a great blessing in my life.
All the best,
Wendy Peltier, MD
|
|
I am grateful for Maureen Remmel in the Office of Communications.
She welcomed me to MCW four years ago with creative, collaborative partnership in establishing a brand identity and marketing/communication strategies for the newly founded Kern Institute and Kern National Network.
She is a champion of the MCW brand, incredibly smart and talented, genuinely honest, and very funny. I’m so glad to have met her through our work, and very grateful for our friendship.
With warm regards,
Julia Schmitt
|
|
Dear Cheryl Crawford,
I am grateful for the energy, passion, and brilliance you bring to work at MCW. Your positive energy is infectious and inspires us to find joy in our work. Pushing us to do everything we can to support our learners, you demonstrate your passion for student advancement as you advocate for equity in our learning environment. You show your brilliance through the creative and innovative ways you address challenges on behalf of our learners. Centering your work in empathy and compassion for our learners, you are a fierce advocate for student success. You improve the lives of your colleagues, always going above and beyond to help. Thank you for the innumerable ways you sweeten life in MCW Student Services.
Warm wishes,
Malika Siker, MD
|
|
Dear Heather Roth,
I am grateful for your dedication to our students on the Central Wisconsin campus and the many ways both big and small in which you help them succeed during their longitudinal clinical experiences. Through your efforts, we get to celebrate their success with each successful residency interview and MATCH cycle. In addition to all the support you provide to our learners, I am also thankful for your energy and dedication to the wellbeing and wellness of our entire campus – students, faculty, and staff. Your energy and dedication to promoting our health is deeply appreciated. You are an inspiration. I hope to pay this forward by incorporating more of your passion, boundless energy, and deep concern for all those around you into my practices and interactions with others.
With warm regards,
Jeff Fritz, PhD
|
|
To M, The "corky" educator,
It is 0600 on a Tuesday morning. Brhhh, it is 10F outside…Wisconsin weather. I must get up! I bundle up, pick my notes, get into my Prius and off I go. The coffee shop by the lake is only 15 minutes away from my house and I want to be on time.
It is 0630, the evite on our iPhones was sent the month before. Yes, we are technology freaks, geeks you may say. M and I meet monthly. Our “dates” are regular, monthly as a matter of fact, for the last 8 years or so.
These gatherings, social at first, became more of an intellectual, learning event. Initially, we met for coffee and breakfast, to reminisce about our short time together at our institution. She moved on, I stayed. Now we meet for coffee and breakfast and discuss education, well among other things…politics, family, life in general.
But who is M, you ask?
M is an educator, a “corky” one. Although when you hear corky, you imagine a light-hearted, breezy person, M is the woman with a jaunty, lively self-confident character instead. By no means, she has a bubbly, gregarious personality, or a chatty, outgoing persona. Unlike me, she is an introvert with a capital “I.” I would describe her as cerebral, smart, knowledgeable, and thought-provoking; quiet at first, conversant when you get to know her, lively at its peak. She explores theories, discusses outcomes and dives in to understand you as a person, you as a teacher. She manages to extract what you know, or don’t, and gives you the tools to move on.
M is a mentor and a sponsor. Like an expert advisor, she counsels, and she guides but does not give the answers. She uses the Socratic Method to get you to discover your own path, to lay the road, to build it and eventually walk it; she will stand by you, support you and make every effort that you succeed.
Best of all, M is a friend, after all friends want you to do well. She sips her coffee and listens tentatively as I talk about my wife and three kids. She takes a bite out of her cinnamon bun and asks about my trip to Africa. She inquires about my life, my whereabouts, me; she has no hidden agendas, no ulterior motives.
It is 0800, time flew by; time to go. Good-bye M, good-bye coffee, good-bye time well spent with a good old friend.
Herodotos Ellinas, MD, MHPE
|
|
By Amanda Gorman
On Thanksgiving, we reflect on the things and the people for which we are grateful. In honor of this tradition, 20-year-old Amanda Gorman, the inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the U.S., was asked to write a poem about what the holiday means to her.
The Republic Gives Thanks
In 1863, deep in the Civil War's magnitude,
Abraham Lincoln called declared a day of gratitude
Shared by one heart and one voice of America.
A proclamation for a nation in a nightmare,
This Thanksgiving dared Americans
To chime their thanks at a time many believed
That they had no thanks to give.
Yet is this quirky day now about turkey?
About a plate full of food?
Or is it about being grateful
In more than just attitude?
The Haudenosaunee/Iroquois remind us
With one mind, to find the words
That come before all else,
because to give thanks is to live it.
It's not just in speech,
But in each of our daily actions.
It's reaching across divisions towards a
Vision of a long, strong house and table
Where we're able to gather together.
If we dream past pilgrims
and the mast of the Mayflower,
It may empower us to bravely learn
From the People of the First Light,
To return to Lincoln's fight,
To furnish our might by uniting around
Any piece of peace, no matter how small.
We still hear all these first teachers,
Called by the will of those still here on this earth,
Like the Wampanoag, who show us the worthiest
Way to give thanks for our blessings
Isn't to hog them, but to give them away.
It's then, full of this feeling,
That healing can begin, because maybe
To be American is to be a kin
To a courageous hope:
The trust that even if just for a moment
We can, we must, close rank as people,
One heart, one voice, one mind, created equal.
Like two vessels meeting at a riverbank anew
Under the sky's greeting of bright, blank blue,
You'll begin beside the people who flank you.
We come to these words before and above all dreams,
Saying with more love and restored meaning: Thank you.
|
|
Covid has taught me that I can't change what is happening around me but that I can do my part to minimize exposure, risk, etc. with the Covid pandemic to help others.
Although it is unpleasant, it gives me the opportunity to find ways to cope like I didn't before, build a positive family and build stronger relationships with those in my life, and also think of the positive things (like still having been able to work from home, getting a paycheck to support myself and family, etc) I look forward to a New Year when I am hoping we can as a county, state and nation and world, can get back to enjoying life as we did before this pandemic happened.
—Cynthia Eckert, Staff
|
|
For this week's reflection prompt, please answer one of the following:
Who or what are you grateful for?
|
|
Share Your Thoughts
Naming Contest for the new MCW School of Medicine curriculum
The Curriculum Innovation Team invites you to submit your vote for the official naming of the new MCW School of Medicine curriculum.
|
|
Deadline Extended
Submit Work to Auscult
Auscult is the literary and arts journal made by and for MCW students since 1992. From prose and poetry to drawing and sculpture, Auscult features a wide variety of creative works and is open to artists of all experience levels. The deadline for the 2022 issue has been extended to 11/31/21!
All students, faculty, and staff of MCW, Froedtert, and Children's are invited to participate.
|
|
Call for Manuscripts
May 2023: IPE and Innovation
The May 2023 issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics® takes as its starting point that experimentation has long been a hallmark of IPE. This issue looks to illuminate interesting, important, complex, and neglected intersections of health professions' curricular goals.
Content interrogating what it means for IPE to productively influence (1) professional identity formation; (2) skill development, communication, and team-based care; (3) diagnostic openness and clinical and cultural humility; (4) and health equity will be prioritized for inclusion in this issue.
Erica Chou, MD (MCW) and Michael Oldani, PhD, MS (School of Pharmacy/IPE CUW) are the guest co-editors of this issue. Inquiries can be directed to Dr. Oldani.
|
|
Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club
The KICS Journal Club for Medical Education meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month via Zoom, 12:15–1:00 PM Central. The next meeting will feature Deborah DiNardo, MD, MS, and Eliana Bonifacino, MD, MS, from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine
Interested individuals can join the meeting via Zoom using the link below, or email Michael Braun to be added to the meeting invite.
|
|
Meeting ID: 921 1154 0031
Passcode: KICSJoClub
|
|
December 8, 2021
Zoom Presentation
12:15 - 1:00 pm CT
|
|
The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community. |
|
Editorial Board: Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, Adina Kalet, MD, Wendy Peltier, MD, Erin Weileder, Nabil Attlassy, Julia Bosco, Ana Istrate, Scott Lamm, Sophia Neman, Wolf Pulsiano, Eileen Peterson, Neehal Sukla, Sarah Torres, Anna Visser, James Wu, Serena Zacharias & Emelyn Zaworski
|
|
Not getting our newsletters? Sign-up today!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
