UNC School of Medicine - Tarhealer Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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... If the title “Heroes of Medicine sounds to people in the class like iomething Dr. Thomas might say to you in surgery just before quizzing you n who discovered the thyroid gland or who first successfully treated hyper- )arathyroidism in the Southern Hemisphere during a fiscal crisis, well that’s luite reasonable because it is those kinds of people, the discovers of dis- ease, that we see as the heroes of medicine as we enter medical school. This, however, began to change as we progressed through the second ' ear of our training and we began to meet the great clinicians here in Chapel Hill. Doctors like Jim Bryan, William Blythe, and Hank Lesesne. These were )eople we could and still can emulate; these are real heroic figures. I think he most moving experience during my first two years of school here was one day in a class about how to deal with terminal illness. Dr. Bryan was discussing the case of a woman who had planned to come talk to our group ibout her terminal illness but had died the evening before. When a student isked how he really felt about his patient’s death, this man who had had lundreds of patients in similar circumstances in over 25 years of practicing medicine, was on the verge of tears and had to leave the room. Right then I ealized that clinicians like that, people with that much compassion and em- )athy for their patients, they were the heroes of medicine. But my impression of the heroes of medicine began to change as the third . ' ear of medical training began . . . This was due to some people we all met during the clinical years of medical school, the patients themselves. Pa- ients like ... These kinds of stories are fairly common in the hospital and really amaze me. They’re also fairly humbling as well. I think it’s of utmost importance that ye always keep in mind that whether we work 50 or 1 00 hours a week, that ve will never be the true heroes of medicine, for that role rightfully belongs o the patients themselves, whom it is our privilege to serve. Pete Dallort

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8, 1988 Lord, I thank you for today. It is an exciting day, for today, somehow, I wil “become” a physician. When this day is done, I’ll be a doctor. A doctor - someone to whom people come for help, for comfort — someone who ma ' be responsible for whether they live or die. Lord, I’m not sure . . . Lord, I thank you for yesterday. Thank you for the call so clear and th( vision so bright to serve my fellow man through medicine. Remind me of thi purpose daily. I’m thankful for the strength and the discipline to persevere through many long nights of study and work. And for the ability and privilege to learn of the miraculous human body, I’m grateful. Thank you for the sup port of my family and friends who, in may ways, have worked harder anc sacrificed more than I have. I have not done it alone. And finally, I’m thankful for those who have gone before — the man pioneers of medicine, our professors, our teachers — who through the years have toiled and laid such a rich foundation on which to build. Such £ heritage strengthens and challenges me to be nothing less than a com passionate and competent physician. Lord, I pray for tomorrow. I pray for the patients I will care for, that man will be cured and that all will be comforted. May you ease their suffering Guard my family in the hours that I’m gone and may they share in the visior of my calling. Give them assurance of my love. Grant our profession insigh into the many problems we face so that every man and woman, boy and gir in all the world may have the care they need. And give us the wisdom tc conquer the diseases for which we presently have no cure — cancer, AIDS heart disease, Parkinson’s, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and so many more — so that the pain of the world may be diminished. And for our world, I pra for peace. Please lord, give us peace. And lastly Lord, I pray for myself. Make me strong, yet a servant. May I be conscientious, knowledgeable, and up-to-date while, at the same time compassionate, concerned, and genuine. Keep my motives pure. And if ever become too busy to care, take away the urgent things and replace them with the important things. And when I become a patient Lord, give me courage and someone who cares. May I be the kind of doctor I want to have. Lord, I know I don’t become a physician in a day. The job demands a more worthy and prepared servant. Instead, may I take this day to rest and cele- brate in the process of becoming. I have learned much. I have much tc learn. I have loved much. I have much to love. I have grown much. I have much to grow. Yesterday, I studied and served. Tomorrow, I will do the same. Only the responsibility will be greater. Lord, may I be worthy of the responsibility. Lord, may I be worthy to be a physician. Bobby Silver

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In considering what to say to you today, I first thought I would like to some important medical axioms to take with you, like: All laboratory data indicated are abnormal, or doctors deserve the lab data they order; and considering the cause of any illness in your patient, first think drugs, other things ... . . . Now these are some of my heroes, my four B’s: Brannon taught hard work and service; my Mom how to laugh; Burkitt urges me to use my common sense and treat the whole person in my care; Brand reminds me tc touch, be vulnerable, and to learn from pain; and Brittingham demonstrated how to know the joy of medicine — to actually love my patients . . . Soon you will be medical doctors — you, too have heroes, to learn from, to model yourselves after. I hope my heroes have stimulated you to review your past and push on in the service of mankind you have been called to and prepared for. I do have one more hero, my wife, who earned a PHT degree when I graduated from med school — that’s a Putting Hubby Through degree. Many of you graduates have spouses that need congratulations, too — they deserve PHTs or PWTs also. In closing, I want to recall for you a practice performed in desert areas long ago. After a long trip on dirty roads as you entered a home, a servant would come out and take a basin of water and a towel and wash your feet. It was a lowly job but necessary. It would be unheard of for the master of the house to do it. As you enter the next stage of your profession, you have a decision to ponder: Am I to be a master for my patients, or a servant — even to the point of “washing their feet”? I believe that if you choose to be a mas- ter, you will find frustration. But if you choose to be a servant, you will come to know the true joy of medicine. I would like now to present this basin and towel to you, the class of 1988. As you take this, may you all remember that in the coming years, you can cure sometimes, relieve often, but comfort always. Dr. Henry Lesesne