March 25-31 will mark the sixth annual National Physicians Week, seven days of acknowledgment ending in Doctor’s Day, a celebration of physicians’ dedication, hard work, impact on lives, and sacrifices for the public good.
The weeklong holiday not only recognizes the work of medical professionals in the present, but also commemorates the longstanding history of physicians, a story 27,000 years in the making.
Historians tell us that the first known healers showed up in cave paintings in what is now France, with ancient drawings depicting individuals using plants for medicinal purposes and performing rudimentary medical procedures.
With the Enlightenment Period of the 17th Century came a surge in the natural sciences and a new knowledge of chemistry that disputed the premise that all things were made up of earth, air, fire, and water. By the 20th Century, past strides and exponential growth in medical knowledge, techniques and tools combined to empower the modern physician in ways once unthought-of and inspire the scientific community to reach even greater heights in the fight against infirmity, injury and disease.
A lot happened in between, of course. Still, the point is that there have always been people who chose to dedicate their time and effort to relieving the pain and improving the lives of others, using whatever tools and knowledge available. The healers of the past would be astonished by the resources available to their counterparts today, but likely not by their dedication to their profession and patients.
Perhaps this is why we love to imagine physicians as superheroes in white coats, without capes but with the same fervent drive to correct what is wrong. This humble recognition of the positive impact physicians make has only further increased since the start of 2020 and the emergence of the global pandemic.
National Physicians Week marks a special time to reflect on the stresses these everyday heroes undergo, the years spent in training, the student debts they may have accrued, the increasingly hectic world of the ever-changing modern healthcare system and other sacrifices and obstacles they have to overcome.
With that top of mind, we recognize our own team members, who show up each day with smiling faces, a deep enthusiasm for positively impacting patient’s lives, and unmatched skills every day in their chosen field of pain management. We appreciate all they’ve done to get to this point, what they do for our patients and the ways in which they work diligently to advance our practices.
We’re proud of our doctors, and we encourage our patients to give them a shout-out, as well. Whether it be giving a carnation, writing a thank you note, or perhaps giving them a great online review, we really appreciate all of the kind remarks.
Happy National Physicians Week and Doctors Day to all medical practitioners and the people they serve!