Physician Family Debuts

Physician Family Debuts Friday, June 6 
By Donna Baver Rovito Editor, Physician Family

 There were about 30 people who live with a doctor sitting around the table in beautiful Charleston, SC on that steamy afternoon late last summer. We were all there for the same reason – to come up with better ways to help the family of medicine to connect with each other and to cope with our….UNIQUE lifestyles.

 I don’t think there’s a single one of us who hasn’t recognized that people who DO NOT live with a doctor just don’t “get it.”

 Face it, our lives aren’t the same as other people’s lives. The significant other in our lives is absent a LOT. We’re forced to handle pretty much everything on our own, our schedules are irregular at best, and we need to be able to turn on a dime.

Granted, we’re strong enough to do that (well, most of the time), but sometimes it’s difficult, and sometimes we just need to know that the person on the other end of the phone or the keyboard GETS IT in a way that so many of our friends and family members don’t. 

The AMA Alliance is the largest organization connecting the family of medicine in the country – and yet, we knew we weren’t serving every medical family, so that afternoon meeting of the Alliance board was a brainstorming session to help us think outside of our own box.                                                                                                                                                                                                            We kicked around a lot of ideas. We talked about how medical student and resident spouses and partners communicate differently than those of us who are a little more “mature.”                                                                                                                                                                                                 We talked about Facebook and Twitter and LDW and other doctors’ wives communities, and how we need to find ways to connect with the younger physician family members so we can help them with their medical “journey.” And then, someone said, “What if we had a third publication that wasn’t just for our members? An online publication for ALL the families of physicians?” 

Ding, ding, ding!!! 

Fast forward through months of planning and getting approvals, reaching out to writers with article ideas, designing and researching, emailing and personal messaging, organizing and editing.                                                                                                                                                                                     Now, a little more than nine months later, that third publication has become a reality, in no small part due to the Facebook communities like LDW, created by physician family members seeking each other for support and advice. 

 Physician Family, a quarterly digital publication for the families of MDs and DOs, goes live Friday, June 6, 2014 at www.physicianfamilymedia.org. The magazine is filled with information about this unique lifestyle we all “enjoy.” There are Top Ten lists for all four of the stages of life with a physician – medical school, residency and fellowship, active practice and retirement. There are articles about legal and financial issues, advocacy, relationships and burnout, networking with other physicians’ families, food solutions, a little bit of humor and lots more. 

And MANY of those articles have been written by physicians’ spouses whose names will be familiar to LDW members – Sara Peterson, Tiffany Sweeney, Vina Lybbert, Julie Newman, Tarryn Penn, Jillian Robertson, Angela Hummel and yours truly. We appreciate their valuable contributions to our inaugural edition!

 If you have access to the Internet, you can read Physician Family on your computer, tablet or phone. It’s free and it was created just for you. Or, as the cover announces: “At last…a magazine for us.” But the quarterly magazine is only part of it. Each week, members of physicians’ families and experts in various fields which interest us will blog about a variety of topics. Our website (www.physicianfamilymedia.org) will eventually feature resources for all stages of medical life. 

We’re on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PhysicianFamilyMedia) and Twitter (@PhysFamilyMedia) too, and hope to connect with you to hear your thoughts, ideas, concerns or whatever is on your mind. Or if you’re a writer or blogger, or a professional in a field of interest to medical families, Physician Family can provide a showcase for your talent and expertise! 

 You can contact me, too. “Friend” or PM me on Facebook (Donna Rovito) or email me at editor@physicianfamilymedia.org. Being part of a medical family is a unique journey, and Physician Family would be thrilled to be a part of yours!

http://www.physicianfamilymedia.org/