Preserving Our History

Mary Eversole

When you move, experts recommend starting the process eight weeks in advance. This allows you to cope with the stress of moving and reduces the chances of feeling overwhelmed. In our case, it’s a major change from occupying nearly 7,500 square feet for over thirty years, with tenants, to an 890 square foot office with just two staff. The professionals say you must get organized. It involves a lot of moving pieces—new office lease, finding reliable movers, decluttering, donations, helping tenants’ transition, address changes, cancelling service contracts, and more.

Facilitating a move such as ours is like watching the Antiques Road Show on PBS—part adventure, part history lesson and part treasure hunt. In the creepy storage room in the basement of our building, the annals of PCMS began to emerge. And what to do with these possessions was the bigger question. Fortuitously, we were introduced to a local historian who advised us well.

Happily, some PCMS members took advantage of our hybrid Estate Sale and now have medical treasures to relish. We were able to donate an extensive collection to the Washington State Historical Society adding to our archives already there. More finds uncovered recently are signed photos of the Mayo brothers, donated to the Society by past president J.R. Yocum, MD, we estimate a hundred years ago. There is a great story about Dr. Yocum, but that will wait for another day to tell.

Moving is never effortless. While that is certainly true, our history is notable and we are excited to see what emerges through this adventure with trusted stewards.

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.