President’s Message | September 2022

Oct 9, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

It’s fall y’all! Whether you’re an NFL, college or high school fan, September marks the beginning of the best time of the year…football season. Football is king in the South and my home state of Alabama takes this American pastime seriously. When you’re born, you must pledge your allegiance to Alabama or Auburn. If you move here, you’ll be asked to pick a team. There’s no in between or switching. It’s a lifelong commitment that can divide a family and dictate the color of your wardrobe year around.

Just as serious is high school football. Alabama has some of the most talented teams in the country. Fans can pack a college size stadium and tailgate like it’s the last meal. Parents know the plays as well as the players and they don’t shy away from coaching from the stands. Teams spend thousands on uniforms and elaborate game time entrances all in the name of X’s and O’s. And, saying “it’s just a game”, well, those are fighting words. Oh yes, football is king here.

My family loves and appreciates all sports, but there is something about football season that ignites an excitement in our home like no other. Married to a high school football coach, I look forward to September all year. Yes, fall means I see him less and I seemingly become a single parent, but football is a gift to our family and one worth the sacrifice. The fall air, smell of concession food, sounds of the band, whistles blowing, a sea of team colors, people coming together with a commonality, rivalries, teams persevering against adversity and post-game talks after a win or loss separates it from any other sport.

Though not blaringly evident, football and medicine have more in common than you’d think.

Teamwork is an obvious similarity. Success is dependent on the ability of a person to put their talents and knowledge together for a common goal. No matter size, skill or intellect, every member of a team serves an important role.  As PAs, we understand this better than most as it is the foundation of our profession. Working with other members of the healthcare team and appreciating and respecting each role leads to the best outcome for the patients we serve.

Discipline is the heart of any goal and habits lead us to discipline. Just as an athlete puts in the time to train, show up to practice and obey the rules on the field, PAs show discipline. Setting a goal to Improve the lives of others and then having discipline to achieve it, followed by years refining our skills and continuing to learn and uphold our code of ethics.

It’s not always the biggest and strongest team that wins. Teams with will and perseverance can come out on top when the odds are against them. PAs demonstrate perseverance in numerous ways. Completing school, competing for a dream job, working in less-than-optimal conditions through a pandemic and as the country faces staffing shortages and fighting managed care to provide the medications and treatments patients need and deserve, all demonstrate this quality. Practicing medicine gives PAs the opportunity to test and build their perseverance daily.

The talent and dynamics of my husband’s teams change yearly; thus, each player and team have different goals to work toward in hopes of improving and succeeding Like many others, I thrive off setting goals, writing them down and working toward them. Even after beginning practice, PAs can set new goals in hopes of improving their knowledge, skills or personal fulfillment. It’s setting and achieving these goals that help make us our best self and allow us to practice at our highest ability. These goals are not always easy to achieve, and the perseverance mentioned above helps keep us going.

Finally, although winning is always the goal for any team, there are lessons in winning and losing. My husband prides himself on teaching his athletes to lose with dignity and win with grace. Though wins lead to Friday night highs, losses can teach players to appreciate the wins, push through adversity and work toward improving. In medicine, there will be successes and failures. Diagnosing a melanoma and saving a life can bring one of the highest highs for a DermPA™. But there are also atypical presentations that can trick even the seasoned DermPA™. PAs receive top-notch education enabling us to provide quality care, but we are not immune to failure. Failing is inevitable if you do something long enough. Accepting blame, granting yourself grace and using those shortcomings as teachable moments will make you a better clinician.

I bet you didn’t realize how similar the game of football and medicine are or that there are lessons to be learned with both. I can’t wait to sport my red and white and cheer for my husband’s Wildcats on Friday nights and deck out in orange and blue and scream “War Eagle” on Saturdays. No matter who you cheer for, remember there is more to the game than meets the eye. Each week, you can walk away with more than a win and find you have more in common with the best part of fall than you thought.

 

Yours truly,
 
Lauren Miller, MPAS, PA-C, President SDPA