Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020 - 4

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

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by Robert Mirsky, MD

W

ay back in 2019, and
yes it does feel like
an eternity ago, I was
contacted by my predecessor as
BCMS President who informed
me that the physician who was
to be the incoming President,
would no longer be available
for the position. Then he told
me what prompted the call, was
that the position would need
to be filled and he was on the line to ask me if I would
consider stepping into the position as President of the
Buck County Medical Society as I had held the position
20 years ago. A lot had changed in the past 20 years and
my professional and personal life had become very time
demanding, but if they were unable to locate an alternate
candidate, then I would be honored to accept the offer.
And unbeknownst to me, things were about to change
in ways that few in our world have ever considered.
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BUCKS/MONTGOMERY PHYSICIAN

fall 2020

In early-January, right around the time that I was sworn
in as the new president, we began to hear about a virus
in China. Many flu viruses emanate from that part of the
world and the initial assumption was that this was going
to be a similar event. This was a massive misjudgment on
what has been described as the virus from hell. When one
considers 200,000 deaths, including a disproportionate
number of healthcare workers, this horror show would
rank as one of the worst disasters in our nation's history.
Consider another five million Americans who have
contracted the virus, with illnesses ranging from mild
to totally and awfully incapacitating then this disease
entered a whole other level of awful. I don't even have to
go into how it has crashed the economy, caused untold
personal stress on individual families, kept children out
of school and has affected every aspect of our lives.
As for physicians and other healthcare workers our lives
have been affected by one level above and beyond.
Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020

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