A Message from the President
Mae K. Tighe, MD

Speech Delivered at the Annual Meeting of The New Haven County Medical Association on the Occasion of her Installation as President of the Association (October 24, 2011)

Thank you for the privilege of being your next New Haven County Medical Association President.  I would like to thank my husband, Tom Bronner, my daughters, Erin and Grace, and my nanny Debbie McGrath for all the support you have given me over the years with my professional and personal commitments. Thank you to my partners at Connecticut GI and my secretary Tina Omicioli for giving me the leeway in my schedule in order to further those pursuits.

Looking over recent years, I see that I have big shoes to fill. John DeFiguerido and Adam Mayerson, as past presidents, have been excellent role models, and Steven Wolfson has been a wise mentor to me. Each of you has been an invaluable asset to our Medical Association.

I have been anticipating this speech for quite some time. I have tried to assimilate as much knowledge as possible during the past two years on the Executive Committee and as a member of our delegation to Washington last February.

You are keenly aware of the great stakes affecting our medical careers today. In this era of health care reform and litigation, it can be hard to continue to earn a living as a physician. We are feeling pressure on all sides, from insurance companies to hospitals to patients and lawyers. I could make the focus of this speech these issues. I could reiterate to you that the New Haven County Medical Association and the Connecticut State Medical Society are working over time on your behalf, lobbying for physicians’ and patients’ rights and advocating for our future. 

Instead, I’d like to focus on what brought us here tonight in the first place. On what sustains us, even in the lowest moments. On what is our common bond, what differentiates medicine from other career paths.

We are physicians. We are healers. We have taken an oath. Our Hippocratic Oath, which states, according to the modern version, “May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.” As physicians, we have gotten so bogged down in practice management, insurance pre-authorizations, formulary rules, malpractice insurance premiums, and just plain making ends meet that it is easy to forget our unique role in the community. We have an obligation which differentiates us from other members of society.

Being a physician is more than a career, it is a calling. We represent the medical profession at all times in our daily lives, be it in the operating room, the intensive care unit, or in an airplane or on a soccer field. We have a responsibility to strive to be our personal and professional best. And we are proud of that distinction.

I was telling the team at Shoreline Endoscopy that I had to prepare this speech for tonight, and wasn’t certain how to proceed. They suggested that I share a little about myself. They told me I should talk about Lourdes. Lourdes, France, is a place where patients go when they have already spent plenty of time with the medical community. They have exhausted all options and are seeking a miracle. They are terminally or chronically ill and millions travel there from all corners of the world. What role does a physician play in a place like that?  It turns out, there is an active medical community in Lourdes. Physicians accompany the malades on their pilgrimage to ensure their safety and stability. I have been a member of a medical team which travels annually to this holy place. One year, I actually brought my mother on the trip. She has end stage Parkinson’s Disease and has lived with me for the past 7 years. I have a unique perspective as a physician since I am her caregiver; it offers me better insight into my patients’ and families’ struggles. Last year, on the Lourdes trip, I had the opportunity to work in the baths directly with the malades, assisting them as they were immersed in the waters. We saw a great variety of disabilities; some we carried on hammocks down the stone steps into the baths.

 It was really life altering to witness the deep faith expressed on the faces of these ill people. Patients place their faith in us in much the same way. It is a privilege to be a part of that intimate physician-patient relationship. 

I have an anesthesiologist friend, Dr. Gino Ang, who runs a medical mission to the Philippines every February. Perhaps some of you have travelled with Gino. The team spends two weeks performing surgical procedures in various sites around the country. One of the anesthesiologists, Dr. Tommy Verdone, went on the mission for the first time two years ago. He returned with a renewed energy. He related that through working with this indigent population, who were so very grateful for his care, he was able to get back to that place of really feeling like he was making a difference. That’s the feeling we should have every day, but it is often buried under layers of stress and worry.

More and more physicians have been seeking these opportunities and have been able to get back to that day when we graduated from medical school and recited that Oath.  Dr. Suzanne Lagarde, as you all know, has given up many a vacation week in order to travel to Biloxi, Mississippi, to provide gastroenterological care to the poorest in our nation. She has helped many with advanced stages of disease who have been lost in the system without access to appropriate care. 

Dr. Lagarde has brought this commitment to our county by being instrumental in the founding of Project Access New Haven.  Dr. Michael O’Brien, honored here tonight, is a fine example of a physician in our community who is offering his time and talent in the service of others in our local clinics and through the Project Access program.

In enrolling in Project Access, we have a chance to get back to our roots. We can feel that extra measure of pride in impacting the life of a patient who would not otherwise have received care.

Just recently, I cared for a young woman with abdominal pain. She is Columbian and runs a deli. She has no health insurance. I knew we would need to get some studies done, and it was so easy to get her enrolled in P.A. I was able to get blood work, abdominal imagining, a gynecologic visit, and a colonoscopy done. Luckily, no serious diagnosis was made, and she is now happily pregnant with her first child. It’s rewarding to be able to make this kind of a difference. Dr. Lagarde has also convinced our practice to participate in free colonoscopic screening for the Fair Haven and Hill Health clinics. It’s great to see one of these patients and be able to give them this health benefit.

Many opportunities exist for getting back to our core values as physicians. But we don’t necessarily need to travel to the Pyrenees or to Haiti to get that shot in the arm. We can start with our own practice today. We need to take more pride in our work. We need to recognize that no matter what happens, the population isn’t going to survive without is. We play an essential role in the community. People rely on us at the most vulnerable times in their lives. We honor that trust they place in us. It seems that today, physicians have been placed on the defensive. They are feeling victimized, threatened and criticized. Remember why you chose a medical career and the common thread which brings us all together here tonight. We will be more successful in our mission if we embrace our calling as physicians, band together as a society, and remind everyone, by our example, of our worth. William Osler said, “To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle.” Our New Haven County Medical Association can be a valuable asset for us to express our solidarity and strength. I aim to utilize the Medical Association this year to promote improved relationships between physicians, better access to health care for our community, and a renewed celebration of this life we have chosen for ourselves.

Thank you.