Admitting she might as well wear a badge saying "M.D. activist," FP Darlene Lawrence, M.D., of Washington, D.C., issued a rallying call for future family physicians to embrace advocacy.
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Lay Claim to Activism, Advocacy, Speaker Urges Future FPs
By Jane Stoever • Kansas City, Mo.
Darlene Lawrence, M.D., left, and Charity Kates of Hershey, Pa., discuss the American Medical Student Association's Women in Medicine Committee, for which Kates is co-coordinator.
Lawrence presented the Stephen J. Jackson, M.D., Memorial Lectureship here July 29 at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. She asked about 300 residents and students attending her talk to stand if they had done three or more activities such as these:
- attended a public meeting on town or school affairs,
- served as an officer for a club,
- joined a political rally,
- wrote a letter to the editor,
- participated in a group trying to influence public opinion,
- worked for a political party,
- wrote an article for a magazine or newspaper, or
- ran for a political office.
The great majority of participants were standing by the end of Lawrence's list. "Look around," said Lawrence. "You have strong involvement across a spectrum of activities. You have connections to many groups of people. You are enthusiastic about education and learning. You have clearly established priorities. You have a strong belief in growth and change. Give yourself a hand!"
Lawrence, a former resident member of the AAFP Board of Directors, said for years she didn't think of herself as an activist, even though she attended an NAACP event in 10th grade and helped organize an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in college. "I wouldn't really consider those activities as activist," Lawrence said. "But then came the Academy, and the fire had somehow lit inside me. I ran for the AAFP Board and won. I was a doctor and an activist."
Lawrence shared an example of advocacy from her practice. In one family, the mother had had an ineffective bilateral tubal ligation and the father had had an ineffective vasectomy. Insurance companies would not cover a second tubal ligation or vasectomy until Lawrence, along with the couple and their by then five children, gathered for a face-to-face meeting with an insurance official.
"I believe most of you are already advocates, you're already influential," Lawrence said. "In every committee and commission, every delegate or officer position, every family medicine interest group leader position and chief resident position, every Tar Wars coordinator and every volunteer, there is an advocate, an influential that is not waiting to be discovered but instead is working hard at making a difference in the world.
"What you have been doing and continue to do makes a difference. So don't stop!"
Lawrence, a former resident member of the AAFP Board of Directors, said for years she didn't think of herself as an activist, even though she attended an NAACP event in 10th grade and helped organize an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in college. "I wouldn't really consider those activities as activist," Lawrence said. "But then came the Academy, and the fire had somehow lit inside me. I ran for the AAFP Board and won. I was a doctor and an activist."
Lawrence shared an example of advocacy from her practice. In one family, the mother had had an ineffective bilateral tubal ligation and the father had had an ineffective vasectomy. Insurance companies would not cover a second tubal ligation or vasectomy until Lawrence, along with the couple and their by then five children, gathered for a face-to-face meeting with an insurance official.
"I believe most of you are already advocates, you're already influential," Lawrence said. "In every committee and commission, every delegate or officer position, every family medicine interest group leader position and chief resident position, every Tar Wars coordinator and every volunteer, there is an advocate, an influential that is not waiting to be discovered but instead is working hard at making a difference in the world.
"What you have been doing and continue to do makes a difference. So don't stop!"
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