CROWD VOICES RELATIONSHIPS
RECRUITMENT AND YOUNGER GENERATION College football programs are built through recruiting for the future. The best teams are always developing the next generation of talent, knowing that today’s recruits become tomorrow’s leaders. Over the past few years, we have seen the number of our student and resident members decline. If we want our organization to remain strong, we must intentionally recruit, engage, and create new pathways for participation. Unlike college football, however, our team does not have a transfer portal. We have something even better: mentorship. Medical school teaches us how to diagnose disease, interpret laboratory values, and care for individual patients. Organized medicine teaches us something equally important—it teaches us how to lead the systems in which our patients receive care. It gives us a seat at the table to advocate for healthcare policy, physician well-being, medical education, and patient advocacy. After all,
Championships are never won by one player. They are won when thousands of individual efforts become one unified voice. Tiger Stadium is considered one of the loudest venues in college football. Following an LSU–Georgia game, Mark Richt remarked, “Usually when the opposing team does well, the crowd quiets down. All I began to hear was a chant: ‘L-S-U, L-S-U.’ It got louder and louder and louder. It was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium.” That same principle applies to physician advocacy. Physicians bring firsthand experience caring for patients, while legislators bring expertise in balancing competing public priorities. Only by working together can both groups develop policies that improve healthcare outcomes while remaining practical and sustainable. Anyone who has attended a legislative update has heard the phrase, “All politics are local.” When physicians meet regularly with legislators, invite them to visit clinics or hospitals, or participate in town hall meetings, they build credibility and trust. Relationships built over years—not during legislative crises—are what allow physicians to become trusted advisors rather than occasional advocates. It is incumbent upon everyone in this room to understand that fundamental difference and show up for the team. We must also continue recruiting and encouraging physicians to seek office in the Louisiana Legislature. When legislation affecting the practice of medicine is written, physicians must have a seat at the table. We cannot expect others— regardless of how well-intentioned—to speak for the education, training, and experience unique to physicians. As Plato observed, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” If we want to shape the future of healthcare in Louisiana, every physician’s voice matters. Like the deafening roar of Tiger Stadium, our greatest strength comes not from one individual, but from thousands of voices speaking together with the same purpose.
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