Caring for Me - Caring for You! PHYSICIAN SUICIDE PREVENTION
“One- A- Day” is a multivitamin designed to promote good health.
It also represents the number of physicians who die by suicide daily in the US.
I believe even one preventable death is too many.
Paul and Richard were well trained, overtly compassionate, experienced physicians and highly revered by their patients. They were also my valued and respected colleagues. They both died, one by carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage, the other by injection in his office. These are two of the many lost at health institutions along my journey as a Physician.
I believe that we as physicians have the responsibility to care for ourselves and for each other - just as we do for our patients - NO MORE, NO LESS!
I believe we have the duty to recognize, assess, diagnose, and seek treatment for all of our health needs- physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual.
I believe we must stop the shaming of ourselves and our colleagues for taking the time for SELF CARE- Caring for Yourself is not a sign of selfishness, weakness or laziness; but a means of maximizing our ability to Care for Others.
I believe we must embrace our full spectrum of human emotions. We must give ourselves permission to be authentic, vulnerable, and powerful by allowing ourselves to to feel hunger, thirst, fatigue, sadness, frustration, disappointment, grief, and yes even joy.
I believe we must request and demand help. Letting go of control, and accepting assistance from our partners (nurses, MA’s, other providers, students, residents, and even our IT folk) allows others to grow and thrive.
I believe my journey to promoting wellbeing in others begins with my willingness to lead change, to create a new and authentic Culture of Wellness in Medicine. I believe WE are the culture and WE are the system. We must lead the CHANGE! We must save lives, including our own.
I believe changing our culture and our systems will be the most challenging and rewarding work we will do going forward. We will need to walk the walk everyday. We will have to learn from each other and share what we have learned. We will have to participate in our nations URGENT campaign to build a business model that promotes personal wellness and changes our learning and practice environments.
Thank you for caring for you and cheers to our health!
Catherine Florio Pipas, MD, MPH , Adapted from 2019 FMEC This I Believe Award Speech
