2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XVII)
People have stated that they want to support #2014yearfp, but they want to know what they are supporting. I realize that articulation of a message may be the most challenging part of a movement. Partners want to have something tangible and on a scale that they can pursue to sustain momentum while others may be working on different levels; they want shared ownership. I will go back to the basic premise of #2014yearfp and that is to...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XVI)
“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir.” That line is from Bliss Carman’s poem A Vagabond Song. His work succinctly captures the transitional mood of autumn. It is a time of rebalancing lives and perspectives. The impulse to keep the body in motion through travel and outward pursuits amidst seemingly endless sunlight now shifts to more measured reflections housed in solitude with remnants of restlessness. We...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XV)
What is #2014yearfp? Larry Bauer, CEO of the Family Medicine Education Consortium has posed that question to me over the past few months. Deftly, he noted that it had to be more than just a bumper sticker. Why should the general public care about family physicians in the upcoming year? I have proposed that #2014yearfp is a compass and a beacon to help us navigate through the uncharted territories of the Affordable Care Act. ...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XIV)
In Part XII of this series, I reported that the City of Sacramento had passed a resolution recognizing 2014 as the Year of the Family Physician. I encouraged other family physicians via Facebook, Twitter, and this blog to make a similar request before their city councils. However, there is no substitution for delivering the message face to face. At the recent AAFP National Conference, I literally reached across the convention hall...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XIII)
During the AAFP National Conference, I met with Larry Bauer, CEO of the Family Medicine Education Consortium [FMEC], and Donald “Raj” Woolever. Raj is the program director for the Central Maine Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. We discussed promoting #2014year at the FMEC Northeast Region Meeting in November. Larry and Raj focused on how to present the core values of family medicine to the current generation of medical...