Dear
Colleagues,
Established
in 1853, the Travis County Medical Society has been meeting the needs of
physicians, and the community we serve, for over six generations.
The
Strategic Goals of the Society include maintaining high standards of medical
practice, providing representation and advocacy for patients and physicians,
and contributing to a healthier community.
In
“normal” times, these efforts focus on activities such as healthcare policy,
practice support, community service, physician wellness, education, and social
activities, among others. In “normal” times, many of these activities can seem
fairly mundane, and one might be lulled into the belief that membership is
optional.
However,
faced with a global pandemic, physicians have suddenly had to adapt to the
realities of COVID-19. Times like these remind us why we really do need our
county medical society.
The TCMS mission includes
disaster response support and public health advocacy. With the onset of
COVID-19, we urgently redirected resources from routine operations to the
pandemic response. We listened as you told us what you needed. These needs fell
into three general categories: Communication, Equipment, and Organization.
When
physicians couldn’t get adequate personal protective equipment, TCMS
established a PPE Task Force, the 4-Masks/4-Days initiative ,
and a GoFundMe campaign
to sustain its PPE Drive.
To date,
TCMS has collected and distributed more than 250,000 items of PPE, ranging from
N95 masks, to gowns, gloves, hand sanitizer, and more. If you need PPE, request
it here.
TCMS began offering
N-95 fit testing and mask filtration testing, the results of which are posted
on a mask filtration database.
A private
TCMS Physician COVID-19 Facebook group was established where important official information is posted
and where physicians can share their experiences, questions, and concerns.
We
surveyed the membership for volunteers, and connected interested physicians
with COVID-19 related volunteer opportunities as they arose.
TCMS
established a TCMS Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) Work Group, facilitating
the rapid ramp-up of CCP donation and administration, and bringing together
clinicians from all area hospitals and hospital systems, staff from We are
Blood, and other experts.
The
COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that as physicians, we need each other, and that we
are at our best when we show up and work together. Membership provides the
structure in which that happens.
When you
join the Travis County Medical Society, you also join the Texas Medical
Association, the strongest state medical association in the country. The TMA
has provided exemplary leadership and support during this pandemic that would
take a whole separate article to describe.
The
bottom line: TCMS is our county medical society – but only if we show up and
join. TCMS has been showing up for you. If your membership isn’t current, won’t
you join us now?
To reinstate or apply
for membership, just click here.
