Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Fall 2017 - 5

field of ophthalmology, Vitamin A deficiency was known to cause
night blindness and conjunctival xerosis. Dr. Sommer discovered
that inexpensive Vitamin A supplementation not only prevented
blinding disease, but also significantly reduced childhood mortality
from infectious disease, thus saving many lives. It meant the world
to me that a physician I admired so much, who doubtless had many
more important claims on his time, went out of his way to solve my
dilemma. It still means the world to me, and as I have grown older I
have gained even greater appreciation for how much even a little help
can mean to a student or young physician.
Our summer President's Internship program has now benefited
four exceptionally motivated and capable college students from our
community. This year's intern, Julia Crozier-Christy, is the author of
our lead feature article Transgender Health Care and Public Policy. Julia
will graduate from Ursinus College in the spring of 2018 with a degree
in English. She is the daughter of Dr. Kelley Crozier (Chair, Dept. of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, RHS) and Rev. Mark Christy
(Spiritual Care and Education Dept., RHS). Having been raised by
parents who work in health care, she developed an appreciation for
how medical care and health policy have pervasive effects on our daily
lives and chose to examine this intersection as it affects transgender
persons. The President's Internship gave her the opportunity to
conduct research which included in-person interviews with physicians
and other professionals who are on the front lines in caring for this
population. We were also able to arrange for Julia to spend time in
Harrisburg shadowing members of PAMED's legislative advocacy
team, getting a feel for how public policy is made, and to interview
Dr. Rachel Levine for her project. Eventually, Julia is interested in

working for a non-profit organization, so we arranged for her to gain
experience by spending some time assisting our Executive Director
with his duties. She learned a tremendous amount during her 6-week
internship, and we benefited from getting to know another remarkable
young person as well as from the work she accomplished.
All of the educational programs offered by the BCMS come with
a price tag. While the costs of some of our initiatives can be defrayed
in whole or in part by donations from generous institutional sponsors,
advertising revenue, or by charging admission, such is not the case
with the summer internship or the Residents' Day program... and
sometimes expenses exceed revenues for other activities as well. Long
ago the BCMS established an Educational Trust to receive charitable
donations to support such programs, but we have not done a good
job of keeping our Trust healthy in recent years. Withdrawing the
shortfall from our investment fund is rapidly becoming unsustainable,
so we have begun making a concerted effort to build up the balance
in the Trust to a level that will ensure the survival of our educational
programs.
In support of the Educational Trust, the leadership of the BCMS
is planning to create one or more fundraising events that will combine
charitable giving with having fun together. If you have an idea for
such an event or would like to help in the planning of a fundraiser, we
would be absolutely delighted to hear from you. In the meantime, if
you would like to support the Trust by making a charitable donation,
your generosity would greatly appreciated by the BCMS and our
young colleagues. A quick call to our office at 610-375-6555 will get
you the information you need. Please join us in paying it forward.

"Can I leave
behind a legacy
that will give him
enough security?"
WITH CONNORS, YOU CAN.

1210 Broadcasting Road, Suite 200
Wyomissing, Pennsylvania 19610

Integrity, Service, Performance

610-376-7418
www.connorsinvestor.com

FALL 2017

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Berks County Medical Society Medical Record Fall 2017

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