This past August, our local hospital celebrated its 50th anniversary. The media published photos from 1975 of the ceremonial groundbreaking with hospital officials, including future Chief of Staff, Dr. David Mysko.
Dr. Mysko was the first doctor I met when I joined the staff in 1987. We played on “The Hospital Mashers,” competing with other community softball teams in a city league. As a family practitioner, he probably delivered many readers of this piece, and I always enjoyed his well-grounded insights and stories as we shared meals in the hospital cafeteria. He passed away recently, but I saw no recognition from the hospital for his contributions to our community.
Over the past few decades, recognition for doctors’ and nurses’ medical efforts and expertise has diminished, while hospital administrators have boosted their profile and salaries. Health care professionals at the hospital are skilled and well-trained; however, much medical decision-making is increasingly driven by those motivated by profit rather than patient care. This situation reflects what many communities across the country are experiencing today.
Ten years ago, when the hospital celebrated its 40th anniversary, I was a member of the hospital’s Executive Committee and served as chair of the Department of Medicine. The hospital scheduled a gala for this celebration, but only the doctors they selected were invited to attend.
So if the hospital wasn’t going to properly honor their health care professionals, how about at least recognizing those who have served in uniform?
A few years earlier, in 2013, when the Traveling Vietnam Memorial visited Santa Clarita, I asked the hospital administration whether they would honor doctors and nurses who were veterans. They declined. The organizer of this event was our local radio station, KHTS, so I asked owners Carl and Jeri Goldman if they would honor hospital veterans, and they enthusiastically agreed. Then-Mayor of Santa Clarita, Bob Kellar, introduced me to present the doctors and nurses to be honored. Here is a link to a YouTube video from the 2013 event, featuring veteran doctors and nurses who have cared for many patients in our valley, with a Jimi Hendrix-style rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the end on the ukulele by Jake Shimabukuro.
In honor of all veterans, especially those who haven’t been recognized in the past, we take this time to celebrate you on the upcoming Veterans Day, November 11.
Gene Uzawa Dorio is an internal medicine physician who blogs at SCV Physician Report.
