Being a doctor is more than hanging a stethoscope around your neck, consultations with patients and providing referrals for specialists. Practicing medicine is about showing care and compassion for the world around you and sharing your medical skills and knowledge with those in need.
I have been practicing medicine for over 35 years and this practice extends well-beyond our office at 520 Superior Ave. in Newport Beach, staff positions at Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital and UCI Medical Center, participating on the Board of Directors of St. Michael’s Abbey and Mary’s Shelter and work on the medical school admission selection committee at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine.
I am extremely proud and honored to be a Knight of Magistral Grace in Obedience in The Order of Malta. This international charitable lay Order of the Catholic Church has a 900-year-old history of service to the sick and the poor. Locally, the Order’s good works include food banks, flu-shot clinics, homes for un-wed pregnant women, help for the homeless, inner-city teen work programs and a visiting nurse program to name a few. The Order of Malta works in over 120 countries worldwide providing medical, social and humanitarian care to those in need. It also runs hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes for the elderly and the disabled and special centers for the terminally ill.
But the Order’s annual pilgrimage, where its members escort 50 terminally or seriously ill malades (as the Order refers to the ill pilgrims) to Lourdes, France, for a week of spiritual enlightenment, renewal, prayer and anointment with the healing water from the grotto, is the flagship of the Order’s many charitable endeavors.
I have served as both the Medical Director and on the Medical Board for this annual event in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2007, and been a part of this journey 10 times since joining the Order of Malta. It’s a pilgrimage that is sometimes physically challenging but spiritually rewarding. The experience differs year to year depending on the climate in the region (all in one day we’ve seen it go from blazing hot to freezing cold with hail and snow) and depending on the illness of the malades who’s spiritual strength never ceases to amaze, enlighten and inspire me.
Belief in the historical principle of the Order in caring for the poor & the sick dating back to 1099; as a physician, this principal continues to survive to today. A pilgrimage is a life-altering event and having taken as many pilgrimages as I have, seen what I have seen and experienced what I have been honored to experience, it definitely has affected me in a positive way in my practicing medicine…realizing the power of the human spirit, its strength to overcome physical adversity and the power of prayer.
Helping others has been shown to have many, almost selfish, benefits for those that volunteer. Aiding those less fortunate allows you to place your own life and hardships in perspective, allowing you to manage stress in a healthier, more efficient manner. In addition, your compassion, empathy and solidarity with others increase as you experience life. I am happy to share more with patients as this experience has helped shaped my role as your physician and how I approach practice of medicine.
Photo credit: Flickr user Alex E. Proimos. Used with permission through Creative Commons.