DECEMBER EDITION, VOLUME 2022, NO. 12
SEAMLESS ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE IS LIKE A STRING OF PEARLS By John P. Mahoney, President, Capital Medical Society Foundation Board of Directors Pearls grow by creating individual layers year after year that build naturally. The number thirty has a lot of symbolism in history. Stumbling into my thirty-year abyss, I distinctly remember feeling the first twitches of mortality. I had to leave the sheltered confines of residency training in a pleasant sleepy college town and get a job, for I was already married, raising three young boys (and counting). The thirtieth year is a glaring yield sign of one’s passage into the much-trumpeted adult status. ‘It’s about time you grow up!’ Some people begin to stretch, hit their stride, share in the limelight, perceive they are making a difference, lead, bask in, and sample the boundless cornucopia of life’s great adventures. Some flounder and sadly seem to endorse the concept of ‘to error is human.’ They are thankful and humbled that they managed to survive thirty years under the nearest boulder. The rest of humanity works hard to age as gracefully as possible in life’s sine waves of curves, peaks, and strikes. Humanity’s extraordinary story is how each person responds to these waves of opportunity and threat, modified by individual strengths and weaknesses. We all like to meet and exchange our unique stories in coffee shops, breakfast cafes, and watering holes. A diverse group of people with differing interests have historically created, managed, and populated organizations similar to the We Care Network. Organizations, like
people, have aging pauses and reflections, successes and failures. An organization merely existing for thirty years is a remarkable accomplishment. The average life span of a business is 18 years, with 18% failing in the first year, 50% faltering at five years, and 65% non-existent at ten years. Absent an endless pot of bitcoins from your favorite Mars billionaire, organizations blessed with a simple vision and well-defined goals might survive thirty years by meeting the needs and aspirations of the people willing to finance it with cash and in-kind support. The high probability of our viability was execution, execution, and more execution through prayer meetings, adaptability, tap dancing, coarse begging, celebrating, grant writing, eating cold veggie pizza, a sprinkling of shaming and luck, with a heavy serving of passion, caring, admiration, respect, and dreams. Our thirty-year journey was not a cakewalk. I was honored when the former Capital Medical Society (CMS) Foundation President Brian Sheedy asked me to serve on the Board of Directors in 2000. The CMS boards were blessed with a remarkable thirty-year span of superb Executive Director leadership within the We Care Network, starting with its birthing via the capable juggling hands of the unsinkable Mollie Hill. It seems like yesterday that the CMS Foundation Board was strategizing with Karen Wendland, Sue Conte, and now Pam Irwin. Absent rare, short-lived director leadership bumps, the CMS Foundation has wisely selected its leadership team, contributing to its CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
CAPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY 2022 MEETINGS CALENDAR December 1, 2022 CMS Foundation Holiday Auction 6:00 pm The Dunlap Champions Club at FSU
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