UAB Synopsis, Vol. 27, No. 15, April 21, 2008
UAB Health System physicians are invited to the Physician Appreciation Day luncheon on April 30 in the West Pavilion atrium from 11:30 am to 2 pm in recognition of National Doctors’ Day. UAB Hospital CEO Michael B. Waldrum, MD, UAB Hospital Chief of Staff Cynthia G. Brumfield, MD, and UAB Hospital administration are sponsoring the luncheon.
“The event allows us to express in a small way our gratitude to our highly skilled physicians for their excellent patient care, their contributions to the advancement of medical knowledge, and their service to UAB Health System and the community,” Dr. Waldrum says.
“Hospital administration has sponsored this annual tradition for more than a decade,” Dr. Brumfield says. “This event offers our large group of physicians the rare opportunity to gather, socialize, and feast for a well-deserved few hours, and it gives us the opportunity to recognize and show them our appreciation.”
According to the American Medical Association, National Doctors’ Day is an opportunity for Americans to express gratitude for the hard work and dedication of the nation’s physicians. First observed in 1933 as a local celebration in Winder, Georgia, Doctors’ Day commemorates the date Crawford W. Long, MD, administered the first ether anesthetic for surgery on March 30, 1842 in Jefferson, Georgia. Doctors’ Day was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1991 after legislation to establish it as a holiday received overwhelming support from the US Senate and House of Representatives. It was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990.