My drive to Sag Harbor was uneventful. The drive across the GW bridge just after 10 AM went pretty smoothly and while traffic was slow going across Bronx, it was not stressful as cars stayed in their lanes and there was plenty of room between cars – not bumper to bumper with cars darting around trying move ahead. I was struck by the complexity of the road systems and how many cars/people have to use the roads every day getting in and out of the city. It struck me as miraculous. I took the Throg’s Neck Bridge onto Long Island and driving on Long Island was a different story. Speed limit is 55 mph but that seemed to just be a “suggestion”. Literally everyone was going 70 mph and while there was no need for it, cars were passing crazily on right and left. Thank goodness there was not a lot of traffic. I noticed that there was a lot of traffic going in the opposite direction and I hope that is weekend people that stayed on an extra day and not what I will be experiencing on Thursday when I leave.
I am staying with the woman who co-authored a paper in the early 90’s that was like a jolt of lightening when I read it. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1049386705801975 I knew immediately, that this was what I was searching for. I couldn’t provide good care for women with bladder problems without thinking more holistically about their health. I sent a copy of this article to the University of Washington Dean of the Medical School, the Medical Center CEO and Medical Director and the Director of Nursing and suggested that UWMC and School of Medicine needed to think boldly in planning for their new Women’s Health Center. I had no expectation that it would lead to anything. A couple of weeks later the Chair of the Department of Urology told me he had been asked by the Dean to attend a meeting to establish the vision for the planned Women’s Health Center and he asked me if I had any idea why he had been invited. He didn’t mind that I had seeded an idea without his knowledge, but he had no desire to attend this meeting. He got permission for me to attend this meeting representing Urology and I ended up Co-Chairing this Committee with the Medical Director of the Medical Center. I learned shuttle diplomacy during the 2 months we had to come up with the vision, primarily going back and forth between the chairs of Ob-Gyn and Internal Medicine trying to get them to understand the vision and not be threatenned by it.
The UW Women’s Health Center had multiple disciplines seeing patients in the same space but woman who was selected to be the Director did not really understand the vision. I think I was considered too junior to be selected as Director of the Women’s Health Center and I ultimately decided to not move practice there. It was during my time in Philadelphia the I proved to my satisfaction that interdisciplinary care was possible and worked well.
Today I walked and cycled get familiar with the area on the bike.Tomorrow I will take the ferry to Shelter Island to cycle.
Tamara Unleashed 