This previous August, our native hospital celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The media printed pictures from 1975 of the ceremonial groundbreaking with hospital officers, together with future Chief of Employees, Dr. David Mysko.
Dr. Mysko was the primary physician I met once I joined the employees in 1987. We performed on “The Hospital Mashers,” competing with different group softball groups in a metropolis league. As a household practitioner, he most likely delivered many readers of this piece, and I at all times loved his well-grounded insights and tales as we shared meals within the hospital cafeteria. He handed away just lately, however I noticed no recognition from the hospital for his contributions to our group.
Over the previous few many years, recognition for medical doctors’ and nurses’ medical efforts and experience has diminished, whereas hospital directors have boosted their profile and salaries. Well being care professionals on the hospital are expert and well-trained; nevertheless, a lot medical decision-making is more and more pushed by these motivated by revenue relatively than affected person care. This case displays what many communities throughout the nation are experiencing immediately.
Ten years in the past, when the hospital celebrated its fortieth anniversary, I used to be a member of the hospital’s Govt Committee and served as chair of the Division of Medication. The hospital scheduled a gala for this celebration, however solely the medical doctors they chose have been invited to attend.
So if the hospital wasn’t going to correctly honor their well being care professionals, how about at the very least recognizing those that have served in uniform?
A number of years earlier, in 2013, when the Touring Vietnam Memorial visited Santa Clarita, I requested the hospital administration whether or not they would honor medical doctors and nurses who have been veterans. They declined. The organizer of this occasion was our native radio station, KHTS, so I requested homeowners Carl and Jeri Goldman if they might honor hospital veterans, and so they enthusiastically agreed. Then-Mayor of Santa Clarita, Bob Kellar, launched me to current the medical doctors and nurses to be honored. Here’s a hyperlink to a YouTube video from the 2013 occasion, that includes veteran medical doctors and nurses who’ve cared for a lot of sufferers in our valley, with a Jimi Hendrix-style rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner on the finish on the ukulele by Jake Shimabukuro.
In honor of all veterans, particularly those that haven’t been acknowledged up to now, we take this time to have fun you on the upcoming Veterans Day, November 11.
Gene Uzawa Dorio is an inner medication doctor who blogs at SCV Doctor Report.
