Thousands of Doctors (and Reasons to Thank Them) on Doctors’ Day

Tomorrow, March 30, is Doctors’ Day, so please take a few minutes to thank our physicians for their caring, their dedication and their hard work.

But you had better start right away. Because at Lehigh Valley Health Network, there are a lot of doctors to thank!

Here are some facts about our medical staff, “By the Numbers”:

• Number of physicians at LVHN: 2,029
• Combined years of experience: a whopping 22,941 years!
• Number of physician specialties: 44 – everything from adolescent medicine to vascular surgery.
• Number of years it takes to become a doctor: Between 11 and 17, or more. (That’s four years of college, four years of medical school, and three to nine or more years of residency, fellowship and special training, depending on the specialty.
• Number of states our physicians hail from: 46
• Number of countries they are from: 90
• Number of medical practices: 573
• Employed versus independent: 1,323 of our physicians are employed by the network, and 706 are independent

People have been healing those in need since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians, but it wasn’t until 1933 that a day was set aside to celebrate physicians.

It was Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Charles B. Almond, MD, of Winder, Georgia, who had the idea that people should recognize doctors for their hard work.

That first celebration in 1933 was held on March 30, to commemorate the date that Dr. Crawford Long first used ether to anesthetize a patient in Jefferson, Georgia, in 1842.

They sent cards to doctors that first year, and placed flowers on the graves of deceased physicians. The idea picked up steam, first championed by the Southern Medical Association Alliance, and later, by the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1990, President George Bush signed a resolution designating March 30 as National Doctors’ Day.

Today the event is celebrated throughout the United States and in countries around the world, often using a symbolic red carnation as part of the festivities. Red carnations symbolize love, respect and admiration, sentiments that are shared by patients and colleagues alike, when it comes to acknowledging and thanking physicians on Doctors’ Day.

The details of Doctors’ Day celebrations vary widely, but one thing is a constant: It’s a time for health care institutions, patients and people throughout the community to express their deep gratitude for the work of physicians and for their many contributions to the public good.