Heal the Healer Symposium

Thursday, November 01, 2018 12:19 PM

Kate Alfano, CMS Communications Coordinator

Pueblo County Medical society partners with community to host 2018 wellness symposium

The Pueblo County Medical Society partnered with the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment and Personal Impact Foundation to host the 2018 Heal the Healer Symposium in Pueblo on Oct. 13. The goal of the event was to give physicians and other providers “practical tools for establishing personal wellness and controlling stress to go beyond surviving to thriving” in their careers through a transformational, interactive experience.

“PCMS was proud to host our second-annual wellness symposium,” said Thomas Greidanus, MD, PCMS president. “The reality is that providers locally and around the state and nation are in crisis. We still have much to do to reduce stress and burnout in our health care system, from the individual to organizational level. We as physicians provide our best care when we also care for ourselves, and we as a medical society can do more to identify drivers of burnout and work to reduce them.”

Keynote speaker Dan Diamond, MD, spoke about performing well under pressure, pulling from his more than 30 years of international disaster experience that has most recently included deployments to Haiti following their devastating earthquake, and the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda. After Hurricane Katrina, he played a strategic role as director of the Mass Casualty Triage Unit at the New Orleans Convention Center.

“The symposium was a success,” said Cheryl Law, PCMS executive director. “Our keynote speaker, Dr. Dan Diamond, received high marks from providers and made quite an impact due to his energy, interaction with the audience and stories used to explain his approaches used in dealing with natural disasters. Providers liked his use of metaphors to our current health care crisis and repetitive summaries throughout his presentation.”

“The attendees were also very impressed with Dr. Lance Long, DDS,” who gave a talk on building community through well-being, Law continued. “He demonstrated amazing vulnerability sharing his personal story about seeking help and services toward wellness which proved to be extremely deep and profound, moving, and real to the audience.”

The other speakers – trainer Tinece Riley; mindfulness expert Deanna L. Robinson; nutritionist Nicole Cawrse, MS, RD, CLC; and PDPHE chief medical officer Christopher E. Urbina, MD, MPH – were also well-received and provided great practical information for all attendees, she said.

Attendees praised the symposium, with one reporting that he will try to become more engaged with team leaders, be a “powerful giver” by addressing his team’s needs and asking for feedback, and practicing daily self-care and assisting his team with the same. Another attendee said she better understands the importance of mindset and implementing simple acts that can lead to improvement. And another attendee said he will work on being “present in the moment” with team members and patients rather than seeing these people as just employees or their medical condition.