June 30, 2006

Stoeckle Center seminar on "juggling"

MGH staff had the opportunity to learn the art of "juggling" at the Stoeckle Center seminar "Join the Juggler's Aid Society: Thriving Not Just Surviving in Primary Care," with guest speaker Linda Hawes Clever, MD, MACP, president of RENEW. Seminar guests learned about the challenges of juggling their life priorities such as work, family and relationships. Clever made the analogy that some priorities can be dropped like a rubber ball and bounce back, while others are made of "glass" and could shatter.



From left, Clever, Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, executive director of the Stoeckle Center and Michael J. Barry, MD, medical director of the Stoeckle Center

Clever presented information to help busy health care professionals regain and maintain their vitality in the face of competing professional and personal demands. "When doctors and nurses are drained and distracted, it becomes an issue for their patients, their families and the larger community," Clever said. "Taking care of yourself is not selfish, it's self-preservation."

Launched in 2000 by Clever, RENEW began as a response to the exhaustion she saw among her health care colleagues at the California Pacific Medical Center and the American College of Physicians.