TARRANT COUNTY PHYSICIAN (23)
January/February 2021
Reimagining
the Future of Medicine
in a Post-COVID World
Dr. Bailey presented this speech at the AMA’s House of Delegates on November 13, 2020.
n my inaugural address to the
AMA House of Delegates in
June, I talked about how a
hero’s journey is symbolic of the
journey we walk as physicians.
Our journey starts with a
moment of inspiration to pursue Medicine.
We find a mentor to show us the way. We
encounter struggles and hardships before
emerging stronger and more resilient . . .
forever changed by the experience.
Few times in history have we embodied
the hero’s journey like we have in this past
year. In June I talked about Harry Potter,
Star Wars, and The Wizard of Oz . . . but
much of the last few months have felt more
like the dystopian world of The Hunger
Games.
COVID-19 has brought immense
challenges and pain for so many—
including our physician community. We
have struggled mightily at times. Many of
us know a colleague who lost their life to
COVID-19. Many of us have fallen ill, or we
have watched a family member or loved
one battle the virus.
We have done things in 2020 that we
could not have imagined . . . shining a
spotlight in an uncomfortable place—on
ourselves—as we repeatedly cried out for
more protective equipment to keep us and
our patients safe.
For the financial aid to keep our
struggling practices afloat.
For the information and resources to
make sense of it all. To provide counsel for
our patients. To better understand what we
were up against.
As we greet the new year 2021, the
pandemic feels a little different now.
We don’t know if it is the end of the
beginning . . . or the beginning of the end.
But we are a bit wiser and a bit tougher
than before.
We don’t know everything about the
journey ahead, but there is plenty we do
know.
This year has shown us the best
in physicians and our health care
community—the nurses, assistants and
staff personnel who are always by our side.
Who are in the trenches with us even
in the most difficult of times . . . and that
understand the importance of physicianled
teams.
But this year also has revealed how
politics can be corrosive . . . how
misinformation and anti-science rhetoric
can impede our ability to respond in a
health emergency and can magnify the
cracks and inequities in our health system.
Nine months into our fight against
COVID-19, the pandemic is as dangerous
as ever. We have reached record highs
and surges continue across the country.
We have learned in this most difficult year
that no person and no community is safe
from this virus. It reaches everyone . . . no
matter their background, their income, or
their politics.
And yet, in face of this pandemic—
perhaps the greatest threat to public health
in our lifetimes—physicians have heroically
answered the call.
Time and again, through surges and
plateaus, working under intense pressure
and at great personal risk, our physician
community has risen to the challenge of
this moment.
We have done this with courage and
with selflessness because of our singular
dedication to our patients’ health.
And now, with a new year ahead and
possible vaccines on the horizon . . . we
are about to make a fresh start. Change is
in the air.
Never again can we allow the politics of
division to undermine our ability to deliver
the very best care to our patients.
Never again can we allow anti-science
bias and rhetoric to undermine our
public health institutions . . . and discredit
the work of physicians, scientists, and
researchers.
Never again can we allow a campaign
of misinformation and disinformation to
co-opt conversations around public health
. . . and sow divisions that only serve to
prolong the suffering of so many.
Never again can we allow public health
officials to feel the pressure of threats and
intimidation simply for doing their jobs.
I
continued on page 24
From the AMA
By Susan R. Bailey, MD, AMA President