Abstract

I had the honor of being the 102^nd President of the Southern Medical Association. When I moved to Georgia more than 20 years ago, I was invited to join the SMA by the Councilor of Georgia, Dr. Terrell Tanner. I went to the Annual Scientific Assembly and found a wonderful group of physicians, an outstanding array of superior CME offerings, and a medical community that I could make into a home. In addition to practicing medicine, making a home where family, friends and colleagues feel welcome and can renew themselves and their spirits is important to me. I have always found two things about Emergency Medicine to be very satisfying. The first, of course, is meeting patients' and their family's needs in times of injury or illness. The second is my specialty's intervention in making the life of my colleagues easier and more satisfying. After taking care of over 140, 000 emergencies, I feel an even stronger need today to attend to our very busy, professional colleagues.