For any medical student, commencement is a memorable occasion.
I can remember mine like it was yesterday. Well, maybe not quite like yesterday.
It was June 5, 1980 at the University of Southern California, before it became the Keck School of Medicine. It was a beautiful sunny day and the ceremony was held outside.
I was one of about 180 medical school graduates at USC that day. My mind was racing. I was excited to be getting my degree and to be putting the challenges and demands of medical school behind me, while at the same time nervous about the increased responsibility that lay ahead.
Certainly there was the concern that in less than a month I was going to be writing orders for the care of patients without having to have them co-signed by a real doctor, as I was now a real doctor.
But, weighing in the back of my mind, was also that my pending residency in internal medicine at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., started less than two weeks after my commencement.
Furthermore, my wife, Denise, and I had not located a place to stay in our future home town – too far and too expensive to travel there for that purpose, and unfortunately Al Gore had not yet invented the Internet. So, after graduation we would quickly have to gather our few worldly possessions and drive 3,000 miles across country.
Nevertheless, the day was beautiful and for my family, commencement was especially meaningful, as I was the first and only physician in the family. We celebrated by going out to dinner, only to have the festivities marred by coming out from dinner to find our car, a 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit, with a large dent from an anonymous visitor to the same parking lot, who obviously lacked somewhat in driving skills.
Putting that aside, we embarked on our next great adventure. We had worked out a deal in which a fellow classmate and his wife, who were also heading to Massachusetts for his residency, would transport our possessions in their rental truck for free, and in return Denise and I would drive their car and our own car cross country.
Driving alone in separate cars was no fun. We drove in tandem and switched cars every few hundred miles. One car had a cassette deck and no air conditioning. The other had A/C but only an AM/FM radio. So, the choice was being hot but able to listen to music of your choice or being cool, but at the mercy of local radio reception.
There were no cell phones in those days. No Google maps. If you got separated, it was difficult to link back up. We set up a colored bandana system for stops along the way – waving a red bandana out the window meant stop for gas; the green bandana meant stop for food; and the yellow bandana meant take a restroom break.
When we finally reached Rhode Island, three days before the start of the residency, we had no permanent housing. Amazingly, arriving home from night call earlier that year in L.A., I was watching a local morning TV show and recognized the guest as the former girlfriend of one of my college roommates. I tracked her down and found out that she was living in Rhode Island. We wound up staying in her home for a few days until we could find a place to live.
Residency orientation started two days later, all one day of it, and the next day I found myself a brand new intern in internal medicine at the VA Hospital in Providence picking up a service of about 12-15 patients.
I tell this story only because many UNMC College of Medicine graduates this year are undoubtedly feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety as they receive their doctoral hoods and diplomas – thrilled about graduating and becoming a doctor, but a little uneasy about the future. Based on my experience I can tell you are not unique.
For those moving on to new cities, it’s not easy uprooting yourself and family and starting life in another city in a strange new health care setting. But, for me – and countless others in the medical field – it’s part of becoming a doctor.
However, even if you are staying in Nebraska, you will find yourself working with a new group of colleagues. If our new graduates are like the thousands of those before them, it is these future residency classmates with whom they may well create some of the strongest and most enduring bonds of friendship. Bonds that will last throughout their careers and into retirement.
It’s been 35 years since I graduated from medical school. Much has happened over those years. But, one thing I can assure this year’s graduates is that they, too, will never forget their commencement or the exciting and challenging year that lies ahead of them.
In closing, my heartiest congratulations to each of our 125 graduates. I know you will make us proud and – whether you are staying in Omaha or moving on to another city – you will always be part of the UNMC family.