Patience is a Virtue

Mary Eversole

A former colleague told me once I had “the patience of Job.” We were collaborating on a project to raise awareness for the plight of child soldiers in Uganda. I was reliant on his team to complete my tasks and it seemed I would never receive what I needed for good reason. I would check in, nudge, email but all I could do was wait. I had no control of the situation. Patience got me through and a wonderful campaign advocating for children in need was launched.

Today, where we prize instant everything, the concept of waiting seems illogical. But I think we have all learned to be more patient and adapt to living through a global pandemic. Wait for businesses to reopen, wait for schools to resume, wait for elective surgical procedures to return and good luck ordering an appliance.

At PCMS we’ve had to learn to wait and be patient too. Admittedly, our recent real estate transaction tested my patience. Forget Job. I would say that practicing patience teaches many lessons. Most importantly it allows us to make better decisions. It has been said that patience radically increases your capacity for success. I like those odds.

Leading an organization during a public health emergency teaches patience as well. And proves that it allows us to make better decisions. Like everything else, there has been a lot of waiting in determining if we would be able to hold an in-person event during the holidays. I waited patiently until October to decide if PCMS would convene as a community for the Annual Meeting and holiday gathering.

Unfortunately, the decision was no, and we all know why... An outside event in December isn’t an option due to this phenomenon called rain. While disappointed, the good news is we will come together in May to formally install the Board of Trustees, celebrate Community Service Award winners and raise money for the PCMS Foundation in a new way. In between, we have plans to get together as a community earlier in the Spring.

Remember, as the Greek playwright Plautus said, patience is the best remedy for every trouble.

Bulletin Submissions

If you have a clinical best practice to share with your colleagues, a success story about individual physicians or PAs or a health system, or news about health care innovation taking place in Pierce County that you would like considered for inclusion in an upcoming edition of the PCMS Bulletin, please send your submission to Mary Eversole at mary@pcmswa.org.