Lancaster Physician Fall 2017 - 43

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Member Spotlight

the way. When the connections are made, I find the gains are bigger
and longer-lasting because of our mutual trust and respect.

Are you involved in any community,
non-profit, or professional organizations? If so, please list the groups:
I'm a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians as well
as the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians.
I serve on the School Board of my children's elementary school, St.
Anne School in Lancaster.
I also serve on the Pastoral Council of St. John Neumann Church
in Lancaster.
I've registered but not yet signed up for projects to help at Church
World Service Lancaster, which works to help with refugee & immigration settlements.

What are your hobbies and interests
when you're not working?
My family is my everything. I have four kids: Ava (age 8, in 4th grade),
Zoe (age 6, in 2nd grade), Vinh (age 5, in kindergarten) and Vu (age
3, in preschool) plus three stepkids (college junior, high school senior,
and a high school sophomore). In summers past, we've had seven
kids in the house. We are a family always in motion, and the chaos is
real, all the time. We sit down for family dinners together as much as
possible, outside of my Thursday evening office hours or James's call
schedule. We go around the table to share our favorite parts of the day,
e.g., something new learned or a cool experience at school, a meaningful patient encounter, or an unexpected treat such as cupcakes at
preschool. Teaching gratitude is essential.
To stay sane, I run, a lot, either 30-50 miles weekly or 5-8 hours weekly
if I'm in heart-rate training mode. It's such an efficient way to burn
calories and stress, take in the beauty of the outdoors, and experience
other cities and towns. I believe we need to take care of ourselves, so
we can then take care of those around us. No matter what we choose
as our exercise, we should lead by example. I notice that I'm a better
human being, more patient with my family and patients, when I can
keep to a regular running schedule. I recently started on a quest to
complete a marathon in all 50 states. I have many states to go. I'm
also working toward completing the six Marathon Majors around the
world. By the time this is published, I'll have completed the Berlin
Marathon (and celebrated with bier afterward in Munich at Oktoberfest!) and will have checked off my 8th US state. Next year, I'll be doing
Big Sur in California, and fingers are crossed for the London marathon
lottery (yep, another Marathon Major), plus whatever two to three fall
marathons my legs can handle.

LANCASTER

I run because I love to cook and eat all kinds of foods. However, most
recently I'm trying to eat less meat. Lancaster has a good variety of
foods. I really appreciate creativity and ethnic diversity. I enjoy cooking at home and feel blessed that we have access to such amazing
fresh produce and meats. At home, we have a small garden to teach
our kids the importance of good health, sustainability, and environmentally conscientious.
Traveling indulges my interest in different cuisines and styles and
allows me to run in different locales and learn about history and different cultures. I love exploring towns and treasures in the US as well
as countries abroad. While I love sleep (admittedly, I don't get nearly
enough) and understand that the body and mind need the restorative
benefits of sleep, I must say I wish I didn't have to spend so much time
with my eyes closed. There are too many things I want to do with my
family, runs to get done, foods to eat, and cities and towns to explore.

For what reason(s) did you become a
member of the Lancaster City & County Medical Society and what do you
value most about your membership?
Medicine has changed in that rarely do I meet the specialists
who care for and help our mutual patients. I seldom make it to
the hospital staff meetings because, as a primary care physician,
my work is in the office. I've enjoyed putting a name to the face
at the women physicians' breakfast and meeting other physicians at the young physician happy hours. We need to support
each other, make the connections that will ultimately help us
grow into better clinicians, and help our mutual patients.
As physicians, we need to get involved! Health care continues
to change and, unless we get involved and more committed,
we'll continue to relinquish more autonomy to non-clinicians. I
appreciate that LCCMS provides us with email alerts about local
and state initiatives that impact how we provide care. I've decided that I can't complain about things unless I've rolled up my
sleeves and tried to be a part of the process that is addressing
the pressing issues.

PHYSICIAN

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Lancaster Physician Fall 2017