BUIES CREEK – Friends and family of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine’s second class gathered in Buies Creek on a beautiful fall day Saturday to celebrate a rite of passage, the annual White Coat Ceremony at the Pope Convocation Center.
One hundred and sixty-two students’ parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses and children attended the ceremony and the reception that followed at Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences. The White Coat Ceremony is a tradition shared by more than 100 medical schools, and Campbell’s ceremony emphasized professionalism and compassionate patient care.
As Dr. Charlotte Paolini, chair of family medicine for the medical school, shared the history of the white coat with the students and their visitors, she reminded them that while the coat is an honored symbol of the profession they posses other parts of their anatomy that are more important in the care of their patients – their brain and their heart.
The address was delivered by Dr. Barbara Walker, retired United States Army physician and trustee of the American Osteopathic Association and of Campbell University.
“Today, as you put on your white coats, you open the door to your clinical experience with patients,” Walker told the students. “You are in a unique position to touch not only the physical lives of your patients, but also their hearts and souls.”
In closing, she charged the future Campbell physicians with three things: practice listening; feed the positive within themselves; and wear their white coats in an attitude of service.
The white coats were presented by the students’ academic advisors or a family member who is a physician. In addition to their white coats, just as the inaugural class before them, the Class of 2018 received the Humanism in Medicine pin and a stethoscope. The pins were provided by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to remind the medical students to pursue respectful and compassionate relationships with their patients. The stethoscopes were donated by Campbell University trustee L. Stuart Surles.
“We are honored to have Dr. Walker with us today to deliver the White Coat Address and by Mr. Surles generous donation of the stethoscopes,” said Dean John Kauffman. “It was an exciting moment to lead the Class of 2018 in the Osteopathic Oath at the close of today’s ceremony – their class motto is “United by our calling” and today they took one more step to becoming Campbell physicians – physicians who will provide healthcare to the rural and underserved communities in North Carolina and across the country.”
– by Sarah Bowman