President's Page

President's Page
January 2005

DCMS Membership:
What it's meant to me, and where we're going

by Leslie H. Secrest, MD
2005 DCMS President

Recently, I was asked why I had become involved with the Dallas County Medical Society. As I reflected, I was a little surprised at my response. I’d like to share that with you, as well as talk about my view of DCMS and the opportunities I see.

My first awareness of DCMS came in my first few weeks of medical school from physician leaders who opened their homes to students to have some refreshments and conversations about school and medicine. Their opinions were clear, and their involvement in DCMS was one vehicle to express those opinions and to implement actions to prevent intrusions into the doctor/patient relationship. DCMS was an important voice in expressing physician concerns and supplying leadership.

My next impression of DCMS occurred as a student during a clinical rotation with John S. Chapman, MD, a pulmonologist, who took us to a meeting where Max Cole, MD, spoke about patient care and organized medicine. Again, it was not so much the message as the person delivering the message that had an impact on me. Dr Cole was admired by his peers for his clinical skills as well as for his leadership skills.

A mentor in psychiatry, Bill DeLoache, MD, also was adamant that the Dallas County Medical Society should be an integral part of being a physician. I remember attending a Society meeting with Bill and being in awe of the members in attendance and the dialogue between the members and Millard Heath, then DCMS executive officer. Bill also took us to some of the CME programs supported by DCMS, and pointed out the importance of such meetings to keep up with the practice of medicine and make relationships with physicians outside of psychiatry.

These examples have much in common. I was the impressionable student seeking to understand the practice and politics of medicine. These physicians knew more than I, and were leaders who inspired and whom I idolized. Their message was that to be successful as a physician and to have a voice in shaping or responding to public policy, I needed to be a member of DCMS and become involved in the Society. These occasions were inspiring as I realized these men and women knew so much more and had so much more wisdom than I, but were willing to impart the knowledge and help develop the wisdom. It was clear to me that this is where Medicine brought together its best ideas and worked to shape public policy and flex its political muscle and power. Over the years, those early leaders were unknowing motivators to my becoming an active member of DCMS.

Over the years my concept of DCMS has shifted from the people to whom I reacted with awe and inspiration, to being awed and inspired by the processes within DCMS. The processes have developed within a structure provided and nurtured by Millard Heath and his successors Bob Heath and Michael Darrouzet. The admired and idolized individuals were the symbols of the processes within DCMS and organized medicine that make the organizations great, as well as the individuals.

DCMS continues to be a community asset to Dallas County residents. This evidence is easily seen in the following examples.

James Walton, DO, brought to DCMS his vision of a patient care delivery system addressing the uninsured population. DCMS received a federal grant and developed alliances with physicians, hospitals, and community agencies to create Project Access Dallas. More importantly, DCMS has assisted Project Access Dallas in becoming self- sufficient by developing its own funding and administrative structure.

DCMS has taken the idea of Gordon Green, MD, for formation of a Board of Health within the Society that can provide resources and guidance by partnering with the Dallas County Health Department and other organizations to manage the challenges of public health and bioterrorism.

Although DCMS always has been active in the formation of healthcare public policy, this has been even more so in recent years. DCMS has significant knowledge to offer in the care of patients and the delivery systems that provide the care. The formation of public policy is more than advocating for the best ideas that will improve the health of Dallas County residents. It also engenders the realization of the importance of the political election cycle. DCMS members are politically diverse and passionate about their political perspectives. This diversity is necessary to build the relationships with legislators who shape and enact public policy.

The creation of HealthPAC is another opportunity to be influential in the community. The focus of our new political action committee is the election process within Dallas County. Interaction of the judicial system and the legislative system shapes each other. The judicial system is as important as the legislative system because of enactment of law through case law. On Election Day, most of us are unable to make an informed decision about judicial candidates. And decisions by elected officials can have significant unintended consequences if those in office are uninformed on issues critical to the delivery of patient care. Not only can HealthPAC support candidates for office, it can encourage individuals to become candidates for office.

An opportunity for our society surfaced as the DCMS executive staff and I reviewed the committees for 2005. It may be time for DCMS to reconsider the charge of the Board of Censors and the Mediations Committee, and perhaps allow the Society to improve patient safety and quality assurance. Situations often occur in the course of practice that a change might correct, but without the voice of the medical society and its community alliances, that change would be slow, if at all. It’s short work to develop a significant list of opportunities in areas where DCMS might facilitate an improvement in delivery of patient care. At times I think, “Somebody ought to,” in response to a change that would enable a physician to be more efficient, but I never can locate that “somebody,” and the inefficiency goes on to live another day or decade.

As a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, I would like to pursue a suggestion by DCMS Past President Robert Haley, MD, to explore how to improve the delivery of mental health care. An able group has been assembled to meet with industry leaders to understand their needs, in hopes of facilitating implementation of changes beneficial in the care and treatment of people with mental disorders.

Because this is a legislative year, each DCMS member will be needed to guide the process by writing, calling, or visiting—at home or in Austin—their state representative and state senator. As during every session, many professional groups want to expand or redefine their profession or scope of practice to encroach on the practice of medicine. Several issues need your voice, and there is none stronger than a physician who takes time to express his view or to educate his legislator. Other local issues will need the voice of our membership to shape public policy and ensure excellence in patient care and healthcare delivery.

In August we’ll need our members to attend the annual Medical Student Dinner to plant the seeds of DCMS involvement and support of organized medicine in these freshman medical students.

This is an exciting time to be a physician and a DCMS member as opportunities abound for the Society and our members. May we continue our excellent work, and seek and develop opportunities to give to our community and improve the health of Dallas County residents.

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