If you’re alive, it might be a good day to thank your doctor | Commentary

It is my honor to serve this year as president of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County. It is a privilege to represent so many outstanding physicians in our county — and to continue the rich legacy of MSSC.

Much has changed since the days of those pioneering docs, but much has stayed the same — including our members’ commitment to their patients, profession and community.

At the end of his term of office, MSSC’s first president, eye surgeon J.F. Gsell, gave a speech to the medical society’s members.

After thanking them for the honor of serving as their president, Gsell recounted how he had asked several MSSC physicians why they decided to study medicine.

The answers were practically all the same: “Because we thought that the calling of a doctor was a noble and honorable one.”

Gsell went on to express pride in our profession and in the broader impact of physicians of his day.

“As a profession, we are credited for much,” he said. “We have done our work well and lived up to our opportunities in discovery, science, in culture, in sanitation and hygiene, in progress in philanthropy and the progress of civilization.”

I, too, am proud to be a physician and to be part of this noble profession. I decided to become a physician when I was growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Like many other physicians, my 12-year-old self fell in love with science and math.

Being inspired by the Great Physician, I wanted to serve this world we live in.

I wanted, and still want, to give back to my community.

But being a doctor can be a difficult, draining job. Physicians face many pressures and demands. Sometimes this can be discouraging.

March 30 is National Doctors’ Day, a date set aside to recognize physicians for their dedication and many contributions to society.

A simple note or word of appreciation to physicians could do wonders to lift their spirits.

I also think it is good for physicians to think back, as Gsell asked early MSSC members to do, and recall why they wanted to be physicians.

For many of us, it was a calling.

“As doctors, we have and are and ever will do our duty and fulfill our destiny,” Gsell said.

That was true 120 years ago and remains true today.