Eugene Stead passed away this past June and left a mark on Duke and indeed on all of medicine. He had many aphorisms that had a way of cutting directly to the heart of the matter at hand. Of all his quotes however the one that rings most true to me is

 

 

We are all engaged in carrying for the sick. Every member of our department contributes to making people better. We have accepted the challenge of trying to help those whose skin is not working right get better.

 

It is an important job to try and make people well. Our patients’ skin disease is with them all the time and by virtue of the fact that they call our offices or call to schedule appointments or come to visit our clinic; it is clearly something very important to them.

 

It is our challenge to never forget that the very act of calling our offices or visiting our clinics establishes that our patients are asking for our help. They are sick and want to be made better and we have committed ourselves to that task.

 

Our workdays are all full of multiple challenges. Not all of our patients, our co-workers, our residents or our faculty always have great days (a shocking revelation to you I know). Despite this we must always remember

“The sick never inconvenience the well”

 

I want to challenge all of us to always remember that our patients are sick. All of us working together have the ability to help them and that it is at times an overwhelming responsibility.

 

I want to challenge all of us to go the extra mile. Find the way that you can help the patient. Use our creativity and energy to solve the problems that our patients have finding their way to better health through our sometimes cumbersome and not so friendly bureaucracy. We must make Duke Dermatology the place where our patients know they will find the people who can help them in every way possible to get better.

 

I know that we as individuals can’t do everything but I also firmly believe that we can always do better. It might be a bit inconvenient at times. It might mean trying something different. It might mean interrupting our normal task to help a co-worker solve a patient’s problem. It might mean challenging the system to find a new way to handle a problem. It might mean saying ‘I don’t know, but I will find out and let you know’.

 

It almost always means helping each other to solve our patients’ problems.

 

 

I am very proud of how we take care of patients and the commitment of our entire department to Duke Dermatology. It is important to remember that every task we perform is ultimately directed at helping our patients.

 

 

One more famous quote of Dr. Stead’s was ‘What this patient needs is a doctor!’.

I think that I would change that a bit for us today. I don’t think a doctor, or anyone for that matter, can do it alone.

What each of our patient’s need is for all of us to work together making them better.

 

Thank you for all that you do to make sure that Duke Dermatology continues to focus on making our patients better.