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What to Look For in This Issue of the Bulletin
By Richard E. Burney, MD
The cover of this issue is a map of the vaccination status of persons across the state by municipal area. It was chosen to remind readers that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and will not be over until far more people have been vaccinated. Otherwise, we may see the new “delta” version causing a 4th surge. This should be our primary public health priority.
In this issue, Washtenaw County Health Department Director Dr. Juan Marquez brings us up-to-date on the status of vaccination in Washtenaw County, which has been one of the leaders in this regard.
WCMS President Joiner has written a remarkably thoughtful and provocative message in which he expands the application of the term, long hauler, to apply beyond COVID to include all of us in the effort to end racism.
UM medical student (now MD) Laren McGee describes how COVID transformed her senior year in medical school
in unexpected ways as her expectations were dashed but replaced by new friend-ships and valuable experiences. Her essay speaks to the role of resilience in the face of the unknown.
And, last but not least, in the shadow of Father’s Day, I offer some thoughts on things our fathers didn’t tell us or want to talk about, things learned only after they had passed away. To talk about these things would have forced an attempt at reconciliation with events in the past which was not for them attainable. The need to search for one’s parent, in the usually illusory hope that this will give insight into oneself, fades with age and maturity, which enables one to grapple with those things one was never told about and try to make sense of them in the spirit of forgiveness. •
6 Washtenaw County Medical Society BULLETIN APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2021