What began as a small, heartfelt initiative in Tarrant County has blossomed into a statewide effort by local medical alliance members to connect with and support medical residents across Texas through care packages.
Since September, the Tarrant County Medical Society (TCMS) and the Tarrant County Medical Society Alliance (TCMSA) have worked together to craft and deliver close to 30 care packages to residents at John Peter Smith Hospital, Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center, and the Texas Health Resources hospital system.
Each basket has included healthy snacks to fuel long clinical hours, office supplies, and informational pamphlets about the Texas Medical Association, its alliance chapters, and the local county medical society – highlighting the many ways these organizations support physicians, their families, and the broader medical community. After dropping off the care packages, TCMS and alliance members have also given talks to residents on the mission of both groups.
The project was born out of TCMS President Triwanna L. Fisher-Wikoff, MD’s, desire to help residents participate in organized medicine. Although she notes TMA “does a great job at connecting with its resident members,” she also acknowledges the budding physicians are “often too busy trying to survive” to attend local county medical society events or TMA conferences.
“Residents right now are worried about trying to get enough sleep, getting a bite to eat, or making it through another long shift,” the Arlington family physician said. “Rather than inviting them to come to us, I wanted to change our frame of reference and meet them where they were.”
Dr. Fisher-Wikoff said the “obvious next step” was connecting with TCMSA, a group she called “the workhorse and brains behind [organized medicine’s] operations, especially the social events.”
TCMSA is just one of many chapters of the TMA Alliance (TMAA), a community of spouses and partners of physicians, along with clinicians, resident physicians, and medical students.
Mercedes Dossa, TMAA’s vice president of membership, says the alliance is uniquely suited to take on projects like Dr. Fisher-Wikoff’s. As a part of the Family of Medicine, TMAA works to connect with and encourage physicians, medical students, residents, and medical families through challenges unique to the health care profession.
As a result, Ms. Dossa said it came natural for the alliance to “build relationships with local residency programs.”
The project’s success in Tarrant County inspired its expansion to TMA’s Local Medicine Matters Conference, held this year in Tyler Oct. 24-25. There, TMAA invited its chapters from across the state to create personalized care baskets to take home and deliver to their local residency programs.
Clara Cantu, a TCMSA member who serves as the chapter’s representative to residents, says the baskets serve as more than just gifts; they’re a symbol of encouragement, community, and partnership between the alliance and physicians.
When she and her husband Fort Worth pediatrician Samson Cantu, MD, married, Dr. Cantu was studying for the MCAT. By the time Ms. Cantu joined the alliance, she’d emotionally supported her husband through medical school, residency, and eventually practice.
“I know how involved the partners of physicians can be,” Ms. Cantu said. “My hope was to support both residents and their families, to say ‘the alliance is here.’”
Dr. Fisher-Wikoff said she’s “humbled” to see her project expand as a state-wide initiative and hopes more alliances chapters continue the project. TCMS and TCMSA are collaborating now with local residency programs on a future batch of care packages.
“Residents are our future workforce, and they need all the support that they can get,” she said. “We practicing physicians sometimes forget what it was like to be a struggling resident. Back then, I definitely would have appreciated support from my medical society. I’m hoping this project continues to fuel the membership of TMA, our county medical societies, and our local alliances.”
For more information about TMAA, visit its webpage.