Doctors' Day evolves into public service endeavor

Fund-raising walk-a-thons, blood drives and a seat belt safety education campaign are among events slated to mark Doctors' Day March 30.

By Bonnie Booth, amednews staff. March 20, 2000.

When David Letterman returned to television after his quintuple heart bypass surgery, he brought his six doctors and two nurses to his stage for a very public thank-you.

In a rare show of emotion, Letterman told millions of viewers that when something like this happens to you, you just don't know how you are going to get through it. He made it, he said, because of his care team. His voice breaking, he reminded his audience that his team cared for hundreds of people annually and that every day doctors all across the country were doing the same.

Few of these physicians ever will experience the kind of public gratitude that Letterman's physicians received that evening, but as Doctors' Day approaches March 30, there is no shortage of people choosing a variety of methods for saying thanks. At the forefront of the effort to make that acknowledgement are state and county alliances of physician spouses.

"This is a wonderful way for us to show appreciation to physicians," said AMA Alliance President Ann Hansen of San Luis Obispo, Calif. "Sometimes they don't feel that appreciation, especially today in the world of medicine where things go so quickly and doctors are working so hard. It's a wonderful time to stop and say thanks."

The first Doctors' Day observance was March 30, 1933, by the Barrow County Auxiliary, in Winder, Ga. March 30 was chosen because it was on that day that Georgian Crawford W. Long, MD, first used ether anesthesia in surgery.

The first observance included the mailing of cards to physicians and their wives and the placing of flowers on the graves of deceased physicians.

The Southern Medical Assn. Auxiliary took up the Doctors' Day mantle in 1935, and celebrations have been held in the regional association's 16 states ever since. The tradition spread, and President George Bush signed a proclamation first designating March 30 as a national Doctors' Day in 1990.

From thanking doctors to public service

SMA Auxiliary President Merrell Rogers said the red carnation had been used as a symbol of Doctors' Day almost since the beginning, and the flower is still given to physicians at offices and hospitals across the county on March 30. But, she said, over the years the celebration has taken on more of a community service focus. Alliances and medical societies across the country now combine a thank-you to physicians with a public service project or fund-raising event.

"There is still a lot of community involvement, with people giving doctors red carnations, baking cookies and that kind of stuff," said Rogers. "But more and more, emphasis is on the community service doctors provide and having physicians and their families do something in the community on that day, something more than having a party for the doctors."

Activities for this year include health education activities at a local children's museum, an annual "Walk with the Docs" to raise funds for a free clinic, blood drives, a contest for fourth-graders to draw posters honoring doctors, dinner-dance fund-raisers, a safety belt campaign and a picnic for doctors and families.

More than 200 people, including at least 60 physicians, will participate in the Medical Assn. of Georgia's first-ever seat belt safety campaign. MAG Alliance President-Elect Miriam Tidwell said the program was designed to alert parents to the need to buckle their children's seat belts. Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on March 30, the volunteers will be stationed at more than 30 intersections across the state with 2-foot-by-3-foot yellow-and-black banners with slogans such as, "Georgia physicians say buckle up," "Dad, are your children buckled up?" and "Hey, Mom! Buckle 'em up, stop senseless deaths."

Statistics show that more children die in auto accidents in Georgia during that time of day than others. Doctors and their families will be posted at intersections near schools and day care centers for maximum exposure.

"This is a chance for physicians to demonstrate that we are as concerned with preventing injuries as treating injuries," said Fred Flandry, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Hughston Clinic in Columbus, Ga., and president of the Muscogee County Medical Society. "This issue hits close to home for me. I see these injuries. This is a visible opportunity to drive home an important public safety issue, and we can do a lot to reduce injury rates in Georgia."

The Second Annual Walk with the Docs, organized by the Greenville (S.C.) County Medical Alliance, will raise money for the Greenville Free Medical Clinic. The clinic is staffed by volunteer doctors and members of the alliance, and the alliance hopes to draw attention to that fact while raising money to offset the cost of prescriptions for the clinic's patients.

"We hope to show the public that doctors do give of themselves in many ways and do volunteer in our community," said Emelia Stephenson, president of the Greenville County Medical Alliance. "We've made it a family event with a simple two-mile route. We hope to get parents with toddlers and babies and people of all ages. Because it's on a Saturday, we want people to have family time also."

And although it might be nice to just sit back and be celebrated, Dr. Flandry said there is no better way to celebrate Doctors' Day then continuing a public service tradition.

"I don't feel the need for accolades," he said. "What better way for us to honor ourselves then to go out and do something we really feel is going to make a visible difference? After we do this, if statistics show a lower rate of injury and death for children because they are buckled up, we will really feel like we accomplished something."