Stephen Ozanne, MD
President's Page

The Sweet Part of the City
(Song title from “Heaven is Whenever” by The Hold Steady)

My favorite memories in life involve people and activities, but also are firmly connected in my mind and heart to the places they occurred — so much so that returning to those places brings the memories rushing back to my mind.

When Bev and I were living in downtown Chicago in 1981, during my internship, we stole out for a day 30 miles west to the suburb of Wheaton, the town where I lived from age 1 to age 11. We found my old rural home on a country lane, and I showed her the woods I had explored and my favorite climbing tree, where my friend Pat and I played “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Being on site brought back so many memories; I almost could smell the aroma of leaves that my father and I gathered and burned in the fall!

Things change. Bev’s and my favorite home was a small house in Muncie, Ind., where we lived for three years while I served in the National Health Service Corps. Rachel and Ben were born during that time. Our home was warm and cozy and full of life. Not long ago a friend told us that our old house had been bulldozed for the expansion of Ball State University. Although I wasn’t there, I felt something like a dagger pierce my heart; even writing these words still makes me sad.

During the 32 years Bev and I have been married, we have lived in 11 homes in eight cities. The moves were for different phases of medical training or work. Sometimes we felt dislocated from family and “home.” We’ve lived in our house in south Grand Prairie for more than six years. Except for my monthly venture north to volunteer at the Grand Prairie Wellness Center, I rarely am near the downtown area of our city. Last Saturday, Bev and I visited the Farmer’s Market in downtown Grand Prairie; the market pleasantly surprised us, but also the stores and a coffee shop, the Brass Bean. We even found a new guitar shop. We had stumbled into “the sweet part of the city.”

For many of us who are not from here but “got here as fast as we could,” the challenge is to make this place our home. We must make a deliberate effort to connect with the people and places of our community. Some connections are made naturally through our children’s school and sports activities, and through church or civic groups. But some connections will require stepping outside our “comfort zone” (or convenience zone).

Recently, I met Dr. Joseph Hill for lunch on top of the Boone Pickens building at UT Southwestern. Joe is a DCMS board member and a cardiologist at the medical school. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him better and discussing our views on recent events. I especially enjoyed learning about his research and his perspective that “I can see the bedside from my lab,” meaning that his work is only a few steps away from exciting clinical application. Driving up from my Cedar Hill office to meet him was well worth the effort.

Being on site at UTSW reminded me of the excitement and awe I felt during my years at the University of Maryland. I especially was reminded of my summer jobs in cancer research at the NIH. Even though UTSW was not my training home, the academic environment was close enough to bring back a flood of good memories.

Although I didn’t train at Parkland, I could feel the pain of disrespect in a pair of recent articles in The Dallas Morning News critical of the residency training program. Physicians are family, no matter where we trained, and we all were affected by this journalistic attack. For all of us, Parkland and UTSW are part of our medical home.

This event provides us an opportunity as a medical society to make Dallas County more our “home.” Our medical school is “the sweet part” of our medical community. For those of us who practice off campus, let’s think of ways to step outside our comfort zone and make more of a connection. To those on campus, we invite you into our lives, as well. Let’s take advantage of DCMS-sponsored activities to connect. (By the way, the August speed-networking event at Cretia’s was a blast!)

Where is “the sweet part” of the city for you? Venture out and make new memories and new friends!

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